 |
Daily news for Seattle's Ballard neighborhood |
BuffaloHawk
onlineMember
Big brother is getting scarier and scarier. This one is new to me and I wish the article had a little bit more info.Has anyone heard of this device and have additional info on it.
http://blogs.buffalonews.com/live/2012/11/photo-buffalo-police-unveil-skywatch.html
Buffalo Police today unveiled Skywatch, which they called a new crime-fighting, surveillance tool complete with high-powered cameras.
great idea
offlineMember
that is one bizarre contraption.
it doesn't look all that high-tech. more like one of those mini-cranes you see with a kiosk attached at the top.
it would be cool if they moved like the AT-AT's from Empire Strikes Back.
otherwise you go through the trouble of setting it up and the rioters go around the corner to another block.
Speaking of AT-ATs, have you seen the one made of gingerbread? http://inhabitat.com/this-edible-gingerbread-star-wars-at-at-will-go-down-with-a-glass-of-milk/
It is mixing worlds, but I'm thinking that would go great with the cookies we make each year from our Ninjabread cookie cutters.
Edog
offlineMember
Seattle already has one of those things. I saw it in-between 2nd and 3rd during the seafair parade (I forget the other cross street). And remember, Seattle airspace is cleared for UAV use. Those things are much more invasive than a tower.
great idea
offlineMember
that gingerbread AT-AT looks awesome!
what are ninja-bread cookie-cutters? little army-men type figures?
great idea
offlineMember
remeber Edog, this one is in Buffalo.
the true purpose will be to house the judge of the big chicken-wing eating contest they have every summer at the ball park.
this person feels the crowd's wrath like the old goal-line judge at hockey games, only this time they're getting pelted with chicken bones.
pixlpete
offlineMember
Hmm...
it would be cool if they moved like the AT-AT's from Empire Strikes Back.
They better do that
Not that I would approve of the behavior, but my guess is the next time you see that total waste of tax payer money, it will be tipped over on its side with Chewbacca dancing on top of it.
teigyr
offlineMember
Call me strange, but I'm good with it. It sounds simplistic but if people wouldn't be jackasses, these things wouldn't be needed. Instead, people do silly things like lock themselves in houses with hostages (which is one use for these things, to try to see in places where it's not safe to send a person), riot and break things (ooops, maybe I meant "protest"?), kidnap people, maim/kill/rape people, the list goes on. We're already observed by airplanes equipped with radar and also by traffic cameras.
One use that I think is kind of funny are the people trying to bypass zoning laws or trying to get by without getting proper permits for work on their house. I know some cities will have aerial pictures done every so often and will check for changes :)
If they can ever use the drone for getting the idiots who can't go all the way around a traffic calming device, I'll nominate them for some sort of award. The drone operator, not the idiot and I don't know what award that would be.
pixlpete
offlineMember
I am ok with it a certain degree of compromise in privacy in exchange for safer public spaces and catching the really ugly bad guys in the act (thinking of a recent drive buy killing of a young woman downtown recently). We are fair game for being recorded in public, get over it. I watched a very telling documentary on what is going on with *retail stores* and THAT is 10 times scarier than some glorified cherry picker observation turret.
How many “People Scoops” could have been bought with money they spent on that stupid thing? At least that would help pay for itself (Soylent Green goes for top credit).
teigyr
offlineMember
What documentary?
pixlpete
offlineMember
It was actually a news piece, Peter Jennings...
onederfullone
offlineMember
"Call me strange, but I'm good with it."
You.are.strange.
I'm also good with it, especially in Buffalo ;-)
BuffaloHawk
onlineMember
I am still trying to figure out how that contraption cost 200k. The cameras must be insane. I wonder what the insurance cost and if it goes under auto or home.
onederfullone
offlineMember
Any camera would do, it's the software that costs you.
It's been around for about 15 years, fwiw.
pixlpete
offlineMember
Exactly 1der. This is kind of what I was talking about with the "Seceders". The government won’t track them, but I guarantee LexisNexis does and they sell your info, good bad and ugly to everyone including banks, credit card companies, credit score companies, potential employers, schools. No tinfoil required, it has been going on for years and will get MUCH more pervasive.
Nothing is forgotten or unseen anymore, the sins of your youth, if you facebooked yourself (or a friend did it for you), are there forever even you attempt to scrub it. I have been having have serious conversions with a couple of nephews approaching college age who are shitting in their own nest with Facebook.
I don’t see anyway other way than not putting the info out there in the first place to avoid it following a person around forever. Just ask David Petraeus.
onederfullone
offlineMember
David Petraeus put too much into the wrong thing, after putting everything into the right thing. I kinda figured it was so when he was put up into the CIA by Obama.
I'd say he became an effigy for what was past, still breathing, but clearly not our future. Anyone else wouldn't have solidified a tenuous foreign policy like he did.
I'm very interested in who will be replacing him.
As far as who can sell your info, it's tough to determine, especially if you don't like small print. I really like small print. I'm the type of idiot that will pause a commercial so I can sit and digest every word of small print. I'm the type of idiot that will spend over an hour, or two, looking over any contract that expects a signature from me.
I'm also the type of idiot that refuses to sign on to facebook, as well as many other data gathering pipe-dreams.
I trust the Swedes, so here I am, but I'm no longer anywhere on page one.
Call me strange. But don't call me an idiot.
BuffaloHawk
onlineMember
Just a heads up
When those companies advertise free credit bureaus like the old saying goes nothing is free. I know for a fact they turn around and sell your updated info including non published cell phone numbers to collection agencies.
pixlpete
offlineMember
No offense 1der, I wasn't calling you an idiot (not sure how you drew that conclusion). I am in the information business so I know a bit about it. Spoke mainly as a warning to parents about how damaging it can be.
Now *this* is creepy... The Mannequins Will Be Watching You
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/11/the-mannequins-will-be-watching-you/265482/
The EyeSee looks ordinary enough on the outside, with its slender polystyrene frame, blank face and improbable pose. Inside, it's no dummy. A camera embedded in one eye feeds data into facial-recognition software like that used by police. It logs the age, gender, and race of passers-by.
onederfullone
offlineMember
edit-buff
ty for that, I'd bet most would never figure it out.
The other genius one is 'Who's looking for you?' 'Could be a former employer wanting to rehire you!' 'Could be an ex-boyfriend!!'
...could be you just got played again...
edit-pxl
I didn't see you call me an idiot, but I called myself an idiot several times. No worries, I'm used to it.
facebooking manikins, and slimming mirrors, we are quite screwed...
You must log in to post.
