Law Enforcement Surveillance: How Much is Too Much?
It’s pretty easy for most people to dismiss law enforcement surveillance as something that they will never have to worry about because they aren’t involved in anything illegal, but is it all beginning to become too much?
This is a question that an increasing number of people are beginning to ask for a number of reasons and we’ll explore just why this is an issue that might raise some alarms. Keep reading to learn more about what’s happening in our world when it comes to law enforcement surveillance and you’ll have your chance to weigh in at the end.
Government Started & Monitoring Facebook Conspiracy
Does the government own Facebook?
Did the government start, and do they monitor Facebook? Or is it just a conspiracy? Think about it for a second… wouldn’t it make way too much sense?
Seriously, did the government start Facebook?
Is there some sort of government regulation in place that says they cannot access Facebook’s databases?
Stand in the government’s shoes and think: “What better way to” …
Track Potential Criminals
The government could be spying on anyone, at any time!
It would be pretty easy for them to find the local weed (or coke, heroin, whatever..) dealers, which they could use to work their way up to the big movers.
Of course, the government has other ways of invading our privacy, but using Facebook to monitor criminals adds that much more data.. sometimes, people just give away hard evidence on Facebook, like “Yo Dan, you got that same dank green from last time?”
Invade Your Privacy
For whatever reason they’d want to, the government can monitor, spy on, or invade your privacy.
Imagine if their wasn’t such a thing as separation of church and state! – All those pictures of you drinking excessively, freak dancing with the opposite sex, and eating a stupid amount of food would be “against the law” (aka sins).
The funniest part is that with Facebook, people just GIVE IT ALL AWAY! No one thinks about what they are really doing by uploading their pictures to Facebook.
From the Facebook terms page (number 2.1):
For content that is covered by intellectual property rights, like photos and videos (“IP content”), you specifically give us the following permission, subject to your privacy and application settings: you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook (“IP License”). This IP License ends when you delete your IP content or your account unless your content has been shared with others, and they have not deleted it.
That is to say.. Facebook owns your pictures, videos, status updates, and comments (unless you set your privacy settings otherwise).
Segment The Demographics
As it stands right now, the Facebook advertising platform allows you to target a specific audience.. you can specify gender, age, location, and preferences (like movies, books, interests.. by use of keyword)!
THAT MEANS: anyone can pay Facebook to advertise to their target market! (per click or per thousand views (CPM))!
I really hope the government does't own Facebook
So couldn’t the government access or use that data to…
Email Blast to Market Propaganda
We all know how the government loves to push propaganda on the masses to instill fear and create change. What better way to do that by monitoring everyones preferences on Facebook and sending emails (or direct mail) out to those who have certain tendencies or preferences?
Prepare for Rallies or Attacks
Since you can use Facebook to organize a group a people – some will use it to organize anti-government policy rallies… this is perfect for the government as they can prepare. How they prepare is up to your imagination.
What Do You Think About Facebook & The Government?
Without going into too much more detail, I hope you’re convinced that the government started Facebook and are monitoring it for all the reasons and benefits they have (and more) listed above.
I really hope there is some kind of Facebook government access regulation in place. Otherwise, there is no telling what they can do.
There are links between the venture capital groups that invested $12.7M into Facebook and the Information Awareness Office whose soul mission is to create Total Information Awareness. That means:
creating enormous computer databases to gather and store the personal information of everyone in the United States, including personal e-mails, facebook, credit card records, phone calls, medical records, and numerous other sources, without any requirement for a search warrant
Need I say more? What do you think?
The Case For Interplanetary Mining
(A logical examination of the steps to long term survival, expansion and universal awareness of a given species. Copied from msword, expect alignment issues.)
This artical assumes two things:
- Other planets have in “some form”, a table of elements, we could selectivly mine from and that under the proven theory of spontanious life, other garden worlds would too exist with corelating minerals.
- The causes of periodic destruction or global dissruptions are natural, like increased solor activity and not little green men interfering with us.
So, we want to become an interplanetary dwelling species. What does that mean? What would it take? When could this happen, 20 minutes or 10,000 years? Can it realistically be done?
These are questions I attempt to address in this paper.
Let’s start with definition; What is an interplanetary dwelling species? In terms of long term survivability, it means being able to avoid natural and inevitable planetary catastrophes. Global changes like food pyramids toppling, impacts, solar changes, disease, volcanic activity –> insert doomsday mechanism of choice <- would be avoided by moving large masses of its population to new or existing alternate locations as individual system stability changed favorably. (See Dr. Michio Kaku on NASA’s findings in regard to the solar activity spike of 2012, and how large enough spikes in solar activity could be a global hazard to ALL LIFE.)
Even being able to move a substantial portion of the population to thrive elsewhere would keep the species alive and possibly provide them with data to more accurately predict specific global changes in the future. Much like we slowly drew up a knowledge base of planetary weather to predict many unfavorable conditions, we would slowly draw up a much larger weather map, a galactic weather map to predict favorable or unfavorable future conditions within individual star systems.
With this idea in mind, imagine another world, when we know that earth with have a one year solar radiation bath at deadly levels in 2012. Having know this event would occur precisely at “x” moment for roughly 100 years, we have already prepared the population for relocation via temporary starship transport and living quarters.
Imagine we mined up a new exotic mineral allowing us to make cheap solar shielding that also acted as a solar conductor stopping the deadly radiation while making it into something useful. Imagine the possibilities.
This cycle of global change occurs naturally and periodically. While I do not believe there is a consensus of timeframe, there are several theories.
The time frame on which this periodic change occurs is only directly relevant in that civilizations arising to apex while natural oil is high volume and gets discovered will have from then until the next major global change generally in which to make the leap to interplanetary operations, that being the only critical relevance to this case, the time frame of global changes affecting the rise or fall of civilizations will not be addressed in this paper.
I think if a civilization became advanced to where ours is today, the step to intergalactic travel is right now, if not a little late. As the paper continues, it will become clear how important oil production is to industries that build the first stages of an interplanetary mining network and how that leads to stepping up from a Type 0 to a Type 1 civilization. If oil production stops or becomes too sparse before this leap is made, it very likely will not happen.
“A species must be able to take a given planetary amount of x=fuel resource (we don’t know all civilizations would use oil or that their planet would even make oil.), time experimenting, global resource management and with those key steps, launch mining operations onto other planetary bodies, before their own planetary fuel resources ran out, to even begin long term species sustainability.” – Necessary and unavoidable steps to advance from a Type 0 to Type 1 civilization.
The minerals extracted on other worlds, (Preferably dead worlds however that is likely a moral debate involving factors we cannot yet be aware of.) are the lifeblood of the interplanetary species. If resources are wasted or remain unfound within a planetary body, a given civilization will not make the leap required in time, to avoid an inevitable planetary catastrophe, and most likely will largely die out. Chance A: If the resources remain unfound, a future civilization could have another chance to make this leap. Chance B: If the resource is wasted, the chance could be gone forever. (With the exception of outside intervention.) Is our planet one of those? We don’t know.
The possibilities; a yet unfound element with favorable fuel properties, an element mined away so extensively long ago we see no trace of it, an element the earth simply does not naturally make, an oversight in the nature of a known element, mining minerals on another planet is for the devil and shouldn’t be done or it simply is not possible. (Resource x)? It is very possible our table of elements is not complete. Other planets and process may have combined in different ways to create elements we are not aware of, elements with very favorable fuel properties. But for now, we work with what the earth gave us, oil.
Theoretically, Option #1, another interplanetary civilization who choose the less moral path of interplanetary mining could have found resource x before our time and marked us as a low travel zone so we wouldn’t find much about life in the universe before natural cycles of planetary changes wiped us out.
Option #2, a previous civilization (If you’ve ever read about “Out of place artifacts or OOPAR”) mined this resource to exhaustion before it got a firm interplanetary grip.
How likely are these two scenarios?
Well, Option #1, we have no idea. We don’t know if there really even are other civilizations out there, so we can’t really calculate those odds. While I realize that isn’t really answer, I must insist; Sometimes “I don’t know.” is indeed an acceptable answer. Not knowing something is only proof that there are things that you do not know. It proves nothing more and nothing less, and while we may not like it, must be a temporarily acceptable answer sometimes.
Option #2,When you consider “OOPAR” you must admit while small, there is some chance an advanced civilization arose here on earth before what we see today. Taking into account odd and end artifacts that represent knowledge we feel various civilizations of the time should not have known, structures they built we cannot replicate even today. This clearly becomes a theoretical possibility as well.
However the odds are still in our favor. Some mysterious “Resource X” may not be needed after all, oil could be that resource. Commonly accepted as the broken down remains of previous organic life, fossilized plant matter etc. Oil would naturally replenish itself after a great deal of time as organic life forms grow and die over vast amounts of time, meaning this could also be a common mineral on garden worlds.
Theoretically, I suppose among the variety of possible garden worlds, there could be garden / oil producing worlds inhabited by all varieties of non sentient life or worlds longer organically active (Dead worlds).
As for earths oil, we have a conundrum, we are almost out of it and we have not launched any kind of mining operations outside of our own planet for mineral resources. If oil is the fuel we need to get payloads out of the atmosphere, we must focus enough of what’s left to explore other worldly mining.
If we don’t, we then fall into the “Chance B” category; A civilization that used up their planetary fuel before expanding mining to other planetary bodies.
While oil might not be about to stop pumping tomorrow, it will soon enough. Without it we do not have a means to launch materials in or out of a planets orbit, making interplanetary mining highly improbable at that point due to exhausted fuel resources. (This does not mean there is not another way, we simply do not yet know of another way to put payloads in space.)
*fig 1
| An Elementary Table | 1 | 2 | |
| Chance / Option | Used Wisely / Not Yet Found | Wasted / Taken before Man’s time. | |
| A | Oil is interplanetary fuel | Interplanetary mining achieved. Chance to sustain species greatly improved. | Interplanetary mining not achieved. Chance to sustain species very low. |
| B | Interplanetary fuel is not oil | If not yet found, funds should be allocated to identify this property and uncover it. This is however very unlikely and bad news if true. As oil diminishes mining grinds to a halt. | Not much we can do about that, file a complaint? However this is also very unlikely. Some kind of trace of such an elemental fuel would have likely been found. |
Here (*fig 1) we have an elementary table, displaying the possible precursors and outcomes. We have 2 realities here, Row A, and Row B. Each represents an existence where oil “IS” or “IS NOT” the best interplanetary fuel earth has to offer. Column 1 and 2, represent another chance, or option. Row A, Column 1 gives us our best shot under current knowledge and tech to achieve interplanetary mining. The case for starting mining operations on other worlds gets very strong at this point. Using oil resources in a mankind-wide goal of achieving interplanetary mining must be the first step in habiting other worlds. The resources to occupy multiple planets cannot and will not come from Earth alone.
At this point some of you may have observed, “Oil is not exactly the fuel we burn for space flight.” and you are right. However, oil is the fuel used to drive all of the industries that make space flight possible. It manufactures the machines, that are used to make the high tech machines used to build the space ships to safety specs. Oil is used in some small way in almost everything we use, build, eat, move, design. Without it, the process of interplanetary mining becomes an even more monumental task, lower the chances of the species surviving long term. So with the remaining oil reserves we have, globally as a species, should we dawdle it away on petty territory or religious wars? Sounds like something we would do with our last days doesn’t it? “Screw it, we’re out of fuel and we’re all gonna die, lets slaughter each other for what’s remains until no one is left.”
Mining on other planetary bodies is the only way to provide the physical mineral resources needed like steel, copper, iron, diamond, quartz and even fuels like oil or natural gas to build an interplanetary network with industrial transport ships, personal travel vessels, commercial travel. The raw materials required can only be procured through interplanetary mining for minerals. This also brings a high probability of finding new exotic elements to build with or use as efficient fuels, super conductors, who knows what else it could lead to discovering. Archeological remains, fossils, evidence of past life on a given planet? A more accurate understanding of the history of the planets in our system and others for certain, as well as valuable mineral resources that would be used to physically build the multi-planet network.
Perhaps we find history and perhaps not but to think of the world as anything but a flat disc was once such a silly notion that main stream scientists of the time would have laughed you out of a room for thinking about it any other way. As it turned out, the world was round and there very well could be some kind of life architecture past or present on almost any given planet. Accounting for impacts, planetary collisions, intruder bodies, colliding systems and all the other strange universal phenomenon, any given planet, in any given system could harbor some fashion of remnant from previous life architecture be they fossil or construct in nature. Learning to find and identify these remains is a challenge. But honestly very little about the world around us has been proven, nothing is yet impossible. Much of modern science is based on standing theory, not proven fact. Not that they aren’t very good theories, they are fascinating possibilities, but they are not facts until rigorously proven beyond doubt. Most have not been, and many have standing contradictory theories or even directly challenging evidence.
The crucial step of interplanetary mining provides the necessary building material to support population expansion, stable planetary safety measures, and interplanetary industrial / civilian travel networks in prolonged species existence. This ideal could seem for many civilizations like it does for ours here on earth. “A distant future dream, not a reality I’ll see in my lifetime.” and with that “it’s in the future only” mentality, they globally mismanagement resources on things like “My god is stronger than your god!” wars and wasteful “I own 13 homes over 13 million dollars!” lifestyles. This chance at real species wide sustainability passes them by while they burn through the remaining resources completely unaware of the (possibly one time) chance to break out of the “Single planetary dwelling cycle” that they just missed.
In closing, I would like to assert that I am no expert on the related material. I am however well read over my twenty-eight years. Space in general has been a lifelong passion of mine, and while I don’t know much in the way of mathematical physics I would like to believe I have a firm grasp on a wide variety of space related fields. The case in question however is not a case born of academic field study, it is a case born of simple logic. I do not believe one can really be granted a degree for logic. You either get it or you don’t. If Humans want to live as a self sustained, long term species, we have to make a choice; Go outside our home planet for resources OR blindly have “faith” earth will just magically always have enough for us.
To me it seems a clear resounding choice. Live or Die. Use the resources we have mining yet more, or burn through earths mineral reserves and re-deliver us unto a new stone-age every time the earth undergoes dramatic changes. We must start probing other planets for minerals and developing advanced yet reasonable ways to mine outside of our homeworld.
UAE’s Debt Obligations Cause Economic Recovery
The question here is if UAE’s debt obligations could jolt the world financial markets to cause a reverse in the world economic recovery efforts?
There is no doubt the UAE has amassed large amounts of debt over the past several years. This exponential growth in debt, led by Dubai, is becoming an ever-nearing problem for the UAE members as it matures over the several years.
Will these debt obligations be the catalyst for another dip in the financial markets?
This is yet to be determined as the UAE rulers are deciding whether or not the government/sheikdoms will guarantee the debt themselves which will total almost US$100 billion over the next decade.
The Sheiks have hit the media outlets to ease the pain of its debt holders. But it seems the pain will last for some time. Or should they use debt collection? UAE Sheiks could stimulate the world economy if they put some of their cash into circulation!
Where do you think these debt obligations will lead the UAE and the world markets?
I will come back to post my opinion shortly, in the meantime, post your thoughts below…
Government Invasion of Privacy – Are They Watching Us?
Have you seen the Will Smith movie: “Enemy of the State”? Government invasion of privacy is a definite possibility, and some would argue that it’s already happening.
How about the movie “Eagle Eye”? Is the government watching you? How do you find out if you’re on a government watchlist?
Legitimate questions. What’s the answer? – My theory is that the government is watching me, or us, or everyone?! Honestly, I’m scared.
Here is what I think when I think about the possibilities of government invasion of privacy:
1) Any electronic or digital data
This includes credit card and bank transactions, postal address changes, mortgage notes… oh wait, pretty much EVERYTHING is made into a digital document – right?!
Ok, so everything is electronic, but does the government have access to that information and those databases?
Let’s imagine they do, let’s imagine they can access pretty much any server or data they want (with good reason)… wouldn’t that mean they could pretty much track you down whenever they wanted.
Assuming you don’t purposefully try to hide your tracks, using cash all the time, not registering anything in your name – it should be pretty easy for the government to find you right?
Even if you think you’ve kept yourself out of the federal and/or corporate databases.. there is still….
2) Phone privacy – Wiretapping
What’s the deal with phone wiretapping? Can the phone companies record any conversation you’re having at the flick of a switch? Even worse, does the government have access to that? I don’t know the constitution very well, but don’t we have “freedom of speech”?
I guess there has to be a line drawn somewhere, because no one wants terrorist or criminals to freely plan their next attack – but where is that line? When does government invasion of privacy cross that line?
Do you trust pay phones?
I’m going to assume, since phones have been around for so long, that wiretapping pretty much any cell phone or land line is very easy for the government to do – and since they are the government, they can do whatever, whenever they want.
Ok, so you don’t use credit cards or banks – you rent from someone who doesn’t claim the income – and you don’t use any type of phone… I’m sure you’ve thought about….
3) Video Camera Surveillance
There are video cameras everywhere. And if you’ve seen “Eagle Eye”, you know that if the government have any level of access to any percentage of video cameras active out there – that would be the biggest invasion of privacy ever.
Any nice office building has cameras, as do all federal buildings – both on the inside and out. And you know the 7-11s and Royal Farms now are video tape surveillance. There is very little space
In my opinion, there is no way around it. No matter where you look, the feds can look into your life. Whether it be through video cameras, phone wiretapping, or electronic records, the government can gain access and find you!
Do you believe that the government invasion of privacy is real? What’s your theory or opinion?
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