New #CastleDoctrine: Protect Your #Home From #Virtual Intruders #BroadbandPrivacy Block #ISP #Spying #Vote Against #Slavery

Congress sold you to your ISP. If that sounds a lot like virtual slavery, that's because it is what it is. ISPs do NOT have the right to your data without your consent regardless of what Congress rubber stamped. Take action! If you value your privacy, if you believe in the sanctity of your home (and that what you do behind closed doors is your business and not the purview of BIG business), protect your data NOW.

This is the new American frontier. Your home is your castle. You have a right to protect your home from intruders, including the virtual kind. Block ISP (and third party) spying, use a Virtual Private Network or VPN to encrypt all data whenever you go online AS A DEFAULT. Trust no-one and look out for you and yours.

Congress sold you to the highest bidder (the cable and telecom lobby) in what is the new standard for bad customer service and a new low for a promise to "serve the people." Refuse to be enslaved. Fight back. Escape from bondage. Protect your data NOW.

And then, vote the spineless bastards who approved this anti-privacy bill out.

Fight for Your Right to ... #Privacy Your Home is Your #Castle

The United States Senate recently voted to pass a bill that would allow ISPs (you know the people who control the internet pipes and can see all the data flowing through them) to track you, package you and sell you to advertisers --- all without your consent. Apparently, the senators voting for this bill have forgotten that privacy is an inalienable right. If any internet businesses should be bound by strictures it is ISPs due to their (mostly) unfettered access to everything their users do online. With privilege comes responsibility and giving ISPs free reign with customers data is not a good idea any way you slice it. There is nothing wrong with being tracked with consent, there is plenty wrong with trying to say that a consumer does not "own" his own data and its OK for companies to use said data (including browsing history) without asking. If you can't be transparent about data collection, then it's likely shady. Just saying. If you don't want ISPs "tapping your wires" call Congress and give them an earful. Tell them, "I am not your product, so stop trying to sell me."* (As a staunch privacy advocate this crap makes my blood boil.)

*My slogan. Order your T-Shirt now! (Kidding about the Tee. But this is my slogan.)

#FoodSafety #PSA: #Sargento #Cheese #Recall Due to Potential #Listeria Contamination

Sargento Foods, Inc. is voluntarily recalling several cheese products due to potential Listeria (Listeria monocytogenes) contamination.

The recalled products:

• Sargento Ultra Thin Sliced Longhorn Colby, 6.84 oz., UPC 4610000228, with "Sell By" dates of "12APR17B" and "10MAY17B"
• Sargento Chef Blends Shredded Nacho & Taco Cheese, 8 oz., UPC 4610040041, with "Sell By" dates of "H14JUN17" and "H12JUL17"
• Sargento Sliced Colby-Jack Cheese, 12 oz., UPC 4610000109 with "Sell By" date of "11JUN17B"
• Sargento Sliced Pepper Jack Cheese, 12 oz., UPC 4610000108 with "Sell By" dates of "12JUN17B", "09JUL17B" and "10JUL17B"
• Sargento Chef Blends Shredded Taco Cheese, 8 oz., UPC 4610040002 with "Sell By" dates of "H14JUN17" and "F28JUN17"
• Sargento Off The Block Shredded Fine Cut Colby-Jack Cheese, 8 oz., UPC 4610040014 with "Sell By" date of "F05JUL17"
• Sargento Off The Block Shredded Fine Cut Cheddar Jack Cheese, 8 oz., UPC 4610040076 with "Sell By" date of "F05JUL17"

Concerned consumers should call 1-800-CHEESES (1-800-243-3737) or email the company via the "Contact Us" page on Sargento.com.

For the full company notice, go here:
https://info.sargento.com/?gclid=Cj0KEQiAifvEBRCVx5up6Ojgr5oBEiQALHw1TiseW-kei-Uh0yaI_E7MR_Bg1_KWIPbf2KCxkd0jnwkaAiEX8P8HAQ

UPDATE: As of 17-Feb17, this product recall has been expanded. Please visit the above link for the full updated list of affected products and the most complete information from Sargento.

Mundane Yet Mesmerizing: The First Wave of the #Robot Revolution #AI #Automation #Robotics #ProductDevelopment

While reading the Sunday paper [AJC 29/01/17], I noticed two articles on robotics being used to automate common tasks. The first concerned a European company called Starship Technologies that is developing rolling robots about the size of a large cooler to make parcel deliveries. (A pilot program is launching in the US and Europe.) The second was an overview of some retail friendly automation ideas on display at the National Retail Federation's Big Show, including a discussion of Softbank Robotics, an Asian conglomerate, that plans to integrate its Pepper humanoid robot into the retail environment with the hope of automating many common customer service inquiries. Taken together, the articles provide a snapshot of where mainstream uses of robots will first occur, namely in automating tasks that tend to be mundane and repetitive --- jobs often thought of as mundane and/or menial.

Getting a delivery is a fairly routine occurrence in many quarters. (For a time, shipping company UPS dubbed itself merely "Brown" --- the distinctive color of its employee uniforms --- because its drivers are so ubiquitous everyone understood the reference.) But getting a delivery made by a robot will wow many onlookers. Of course, as the technology develops robots will take on more complex tasks in our everyday life and we will become more accustomed to their presence. It remains to be seen whether one day we will be taken over by so-called smart robots powered by their own thoughts as predicted in many a sci-fi script (and some academic hypothesis). Are we developing our own robot overlords? I think not.

In spite of the dire warnings sounded by a few prominent scientists and engineers, I would like to think that human ingenuity will always outweigh programmed intelligence. This does not mean that AI robots won't accumulate more "knowledge" than the average human or that an AI program cannot outstrip a human in a specific, even complex arena (as has been demonstrated with chess). I simply believe that the totality of human engineering (our complex body systems and our still evolving brain organ) is more intricate than anything which humans can engineer. The robots will have to prove me wrong. (The possibility that things may go horribly wrong should not prevent our developing AI robots, but it should impart circumspection into said development.) Humans are the most fantastic machines in existence, but certainly man-made robots are cool.

On a personal level, I plan to use automation to an advantage in my home (and my business). I want to employ robots for many tasks from mowing the lawn to vacuuming the floors. The use of robots and/or artificial intelligence systems will allow me to manage the homestead without needing a lot of manpower. Home automation will allow for the creation of a one man run estate. I am fascinated by the promise of AI and what it could mean for reclaiming individual independence. I already use a Smart Assistant (Amazon's Alexa platform) and Smart Appliances. I do not fear the future, as a techie early adopter, I embrace it. And if need be, I will be one of the first to rally against Skynet ...should that day arrive.

Data Hog? #AmazonEcho on a Metered Connection? Without Internet Altogether? Not so fast...

As a new Amazon Echo owner, I have been debating whether I should embrace "always on". Beyond the Big Brother security and privacy concerns of having constant eavesdropping by Amazon and worse still personal recordings plumbed by unscrupulous third-party data-miners, I wondered how much data does Alexa eat? And the answer seems to be that she is a glutton.

Cursory research returned numerous complaints of users suddenly blowing through data caps. Apparently, learning a user's habits, predicting his likes, ordering items and checking the latest sports scores takes a unbelievable amount of bandwidth. I'm talking upwards of 50GBs IN A DAY, if reports are accurate.

Ridiculous! (I would NOT advise using Alexa on a metered connection. If you must try it, make certain to turn the unit off completely when not actively using it. As an alternative, consider using the Alexa app only, which you must select to activate in the case of the Amazon Fire Tablet.)

So far, I've only come across one mention of someone using an Echo sans Internet (as a Bluetooth speaker), but I want to know if Alexa can be employed strictly across a local intranet, without needing to phone home (i.e., report back to Amazon). I don't care about generating orders or asking random questions, my interest is in using Alexa to control "smart" things and this could be made an entirely localized activity, so I'm currently experimenting and testing limits, still early in the setup phase.

To GMO or Non-GMO

What's that you're eating? What's in your food?

As a STEM+M (that's Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Music) girl, I am not blanket anti-GMO. I get the science and understand the potential benefits. On the other hand, I'm also not rah-rah pro-GMO.

GMOs may not be harmful if swallowed, but I believe I have a right to know, if I am eating them. I advocate choice & transparency, particularly where my food is concerned. Labels should tell you the actual ingredients in your food and disclose things like GMOs, Fat, Cholesterol, etc., so that consumers can make informed choices.

I believe in truth in advertising and product quantifiers. So if something says "vegetarian" on the label (or menu), then it should darn well be vegetarian. Do I eat GMOs? Yes, certainly, but it is my choice to do so.

If a company expects me to purchase its product/s, then that company shouldn't have any qualms disclosing exactly what said product is.

And that's my two cents on the issue. Way to go, Vermont!

NOTE: I tend to use STEM+M (my own creation), in place of the well-known acronym STEM, due to the fact that Music, like Science and Engineering, uses Mathematics as its language. Therefore, I submit that Music is a closely related discipline (activating similar regions of the brain), and so should get its due or honor of place. There's a simple reason that a good many engineers & scientists are also musicians and music aficionados. Birds of a feather....