Saturday

I saw a couple of poppies coming up.  We had a beautiful day yesterday with temps in the 50s.  A lot of snow disappeared--including the about five inches we got early this last week.  Our temps are still above freezing and may get to 40 today.  Once we had some light outside (have I said before how much I hate time change?) I saw containers I hadn't seen in a couple of months.  If the weather people are right we should see much more by the end of the coming week.  I can hope.

This article tells us exactly how invasive the "meta-data" the government is sucking up can be.  And this study was from Stanford University researchers so just imagine what government agencies--or insurance companies?--might make of it.

I have been reading more and more stories like this one.  When I was a child measles (and mumps, and chicken pox) were a normal part of life.  Everyone got these "childhood" diseases.  My younger siblings and each generation since has, generally, been vaccinated.  But I have also been hearing about a growing movement against vaccination and that worries me.  All of these diseases can have serious consequences (including death) among groups without previous exposure to them.

I view our industrial food supply system with a large dose of skepticism.  This article suggests why--at least in part.

Over 40 years ago, my long dead uncle (who worked in the electric power industry) said much the same thing--bringing down the electric grid would be easy for a small crew of dedicated individuals.  Actually he thought that crew would have to hit more crucial points so things have become more precarious.  Don't worry.  He didn't specify what sites would have to be taken out and I have neither the inclination nor the technical abilities needed.  And the scenario involves a physical attack on the infrastructure.  It says nothing about a cyber attack.