People in signal ‘not spots’ and remote areas have another way to seamlessly connect, but many still lack decent internet
Source: Can you hear me? How greater wifi access can empower the disconnected – WikiTribune
# – # – # – # – #
“Not Spots”!
Unfortunately, everything comes at a cost.
As far as I’ve seen, all the public libraries have free internet.
— 30 —
The latest Google News update changes many features, including user categorizations; saved selections and easy access to sections
Source: Google News updates – WikiTribune
* * * * *
And most folks are not very happy about it.
(Got my first “story” into wikitribune.)
–30–
http://www.impactlab.net/2017/12/17/estonia-the-digital-republic/
December 17th, 2017 at 11:54 am
Estonia, the digital republic
*** begin quote ***
Its government is virtual, borderless, blockchained, and secure. Has this tiny post-Soviet nation found the way of the future?
The Estonian government is so eager to take on big problems that many ambitious techies leave the private sector to join it.
*** and ***
I asked Kaevats what he saw when he looked at the U.S. Two things, he said. First, a technical mess. Data architecture was too centralized. Citizens didn’t control their own data; it was sold, instead, by brokers. Basic security was lax. “For example, I can tell you my I.D. number—I don’t fucking care,” he said. “You have a Social Security number, which is, like, a big secret.” He laughed. “This does not work!” The U.S. had backward notions of protection, he said, and the result was a bigger problem: a systemic loss of community and trust. “Snowden things and whatnot have done a lot of damage. But they have also proved that these fears are justified.
*** end quote ***
There’s a plethora of great ideas in this story. So many that it’s hard to absorb them in one sitting.
I love the citizen is in control of their data.
In the USA would be IMPOSSIBLE without the (unconstitutional) Social Security “number”.
Why can’t “we” have all these benefits here?
Simple Crony Capitalism. What would all the “info protection”, credit reporting, Gooferment “suppliers” and consultants to the Gooferment do? All those lost “campaign contributions”!
And, imagine all the waste, fraud, and abuse that would be found.
If DJT45 wants to drain the swamp, then here’s how to do it.
Argh!
# – # – # – # – #
amazing Animals Art Brain Business car Children China Computer Economy Education energy Food funnyfuture global google government Health Humor Internet jobs joke medical money NASA online photophotography photos Power robot Science solar Space study Technology Thomas Frey top 10 Top 10 Photos of the Week Trend trends video Water Women
https://fee.org/articles/fed-official-decries-bitcoin-as-not-backed/
Friday, December 01, 2017
Fed Official Decries Bitcoin as “Not Backed”
Bitcoin is backed by the use value of the distributed ledger in the underlying technology of the Blockchain.
by Jeffrey A. Tucker
*** begin quote ***
Randal K. Quarles, a Trump administration appointee to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and Vice Chair for bank supervision, has given a lengthy speech (“Thoughts on Prudent Innovation in the Payment System”) that directly targets Bitcoin as a danger to the monetary and financial system.
To reiterate, an official speaking for the nation’s central bank that manages the global reserve currency – the institution that has long bragged about its power to bail out the entire world with the magic powers of the alchemist – has put down Bitcoin for being untrustworthy, unbacked, and unsound.
*** end quote ***
Will someone please tell me what is backing up the current Federal Reserve Notes that pass for “money” today?
I can’t believe the hubris of some people.
The Federal Reserve Note, since 1970, has lost 99.99% of its value. There maybe even some 9’s at the end of that percentage.
I’m just shaking me head at this “attack” on bitcoin.
I’m speechless.
You should be too.
Save your nickels! It’s only thing worth anything — it still has some silver content. For now!
Argh!
# – # – # – # – #
http://www.impactlab.net/2013/04/03/top-5-innovations-that-show-libraries-dont-have-to-disappear/
April 3rd, 2013 at 11:22 am
Top 5 innovations that show libraries don’t have to disappear
in: Analysis,People Making a Difference,Science & Technology News
Bookless library
Despite the meaning of the name, library (derived from liber, which is literally a Latin word for “tree bark”), libraries insist that they are actually a hotbed of innovation. And surprisingly they are, to some extent, it’s true.
Yes, the “browsing” that libraries are constructed around is completely antithetical to how information is browsed on the Internet. But the existential threat posed by the web has driven libraries public and private to rethink how they can provide people with access not simply to dead trees, but to “information.” Here are five of the most interesting examples:
1. The Bookless Library
A judge in Bexar County, Texas made waves when he announced his intention to build a library without any books at all. That’s somewhat of an overstatement; there will be no paperbacks and no hardbacks, but BiblioTech will have a surplus of e-readers, making the text itself accessible to anyone with a library card.
# – # – # – # – #
http://www.impactlab.net/2012/09/11/technology-will-replace-80-of-doctors-vinod-khosla/
September 11th, 2012 at 1:15 pm
Technology will replace 80% of doctors: Vinod Khosla
*** begin quote ***
Health care must be more data driven and about wellness, not sick care.
Eighty percent of doctors could be replaced by machines.
Khosla assured the audience that being part of the health care system was a burden and disadvantage. To disrupt health care, entrepreneurs do not need to be part of the system or status quo. He cited the example of CEO Jack Dorsey of Square (a wireless payment system allowing anyone to accept credit cards rather than setup a more costly corporate account with Visa / MasterCard) who reflected in a Wired magazine article that the ability to disrupt the electronic payment system which had stymied others for years was because of the 250 employees at Square, only 5 ever worked in that industry.
hosla believed that patients would be better off getting diagnosed by a machine than by doctors. Creating such a system was a simple problem to solve. Google’s development of a driverless smart car was “two orders of magnitude more complex” than providing the right diagnosis. A good machine learning system not only would be cheaper, more accurate and objective, but also effectively replace 80 percent of doctors simply by being better than the average doctor. To do so, the level of machine expertise would need to be in the 80th percentile of doctors’ expertise.
*** and ***
Can we do better in being more reliable, consistent, and creating a system process and design that is comparable to highly reliable organizations and industries? Of course. Can we be more systematic and doing the right things every patient every time on areas where the science is known to level of the molecule? Yes. Care must be incredibly simple to access, extremely convenient and intensely personal.
*** end quote ***
Well, I am not a fan of America’s current “health care” system. Unless you’re trying to change it to the “socialized medicine” system found in the UK, Canada, and Europe.
I want improvement; not a retro grade or down grade to something worse.
And, of course, I think to the way to that is with less Gooferment and more liberty freedom.
After watching Deep Blue play Jeopardy, it’s seems possible. Doctor House could be a less smelly less crazy diagnostician. I’d have gladly liked my wife’s case presented to Doctor Deep Blue. It couldn’t have had a worse outcome.
Then look at all the regulation and costs imposed by that regulation.
The FDA, Medicare / Medicaid, Doctor licensing, Nurse Licensing, Pharmacist Licensing, Pharmacy regulation, Hospital regulation, Insurance regulation, State regulation, Federal regulation, financial regulation, tax code manipulation, Medical education regulation, anti-trust legislation that allows the AMA a monopoly, …
Did I miss any?
Sigh!
How do we get out of this mess?
Let people make mistakes. Shade tree mechanics. Turn it over to WalMart.
Medicine should be patient driven.
Look at pet care. Competitive. “Cheap”. Easily found. No forms. No real regulation.
Imagine if a Nurse could have her own “practice”. Finding sick people and getting them to the doctor or hospital. Physician’s assistants would be an extension of the system. Everyone says early detection is crucial to good outcomes. Everyone says that rapid care is essential to good outcomes. Everyone says that over use of the ER is driving up costs and wait times.
Yada, yada, yada …
It could be so much better.
# – # – # – # – #
http://www.vtcommons.org/blog/heritage-foundation-then-and-now
The Heritage Foundation Then and Now
Winslow Wheeler
*** begin quote ***
Since then, Heritage has come a long way in defense policy analysis, all of it downward. On December 26, 2012 the Director of Heritage’s Center for Foreign Policy Studies, Dr. James J. Carafano, published a commentary in the Washington Examiner, “What To Do about Obama’s Pound-Foolish Air Force.” Without saying so explicitly, he implied that the legendary Col. John R. Boyd, “a fighter pilot’s fighter pilot” in Dr. Carafano’s words, would favor what the good doctor wants: to reopen production of the $411 million F-22 and to buy more $154 million F-35s.
*** and ***
Not only did Carafano miss the boat on the technical differences between the F-86 and MiG-15, he ignored the even more important Boydian idea that, to win wars, people come first, ideas (i.e., tactics and strategy) are second, and hardware is a distant third. It was perfectly obvious to Boyd why two hundred F-86s achieved air superiority over 1000 MiGs in Korea and shot down 5 to 10 enemies for every American loss. Our pilots were simply far more skilled than the Chinese and Russians by virtue of better selection, more rigorous and realistic training using better tactics and better exploitation of the skills of experienced pilots, and far more flying hours (the much more reliable F-86 flew 40 hours per month to the MiG’s 10 or 12 hours). Had we changed aircraft with the enemy, our lop-sided victory tally in Korea would have been the same—an insight repeated almost verbatim decades later by the Israeli Air Force commanders after the 1973 and 1982 wars, then again by the U.S commander of the Persian Gulf War in 1991. Despite John Boyd’s seminal role in designing the F-15 and F-16, he was always the first to point out that technical differences in friendly versus enemy aircraft are minor compared to differences in people skills—and that applied with equal force to ground and naval weapons.
*** end quote ***
I love when I can find gems in posts.
Here is a “debunking” of the Heritage Foundation. The same Heritage Foundation that has been advertising on Rush and Hannity and pushing their Reagan connection.
And inside it is an excellent about why Boyd was a visionary. “People first. Ideas second. Technology third.”
A lot of businesses could use that insight.
# – # – # – # – #
Reinke Faces Life 