Attack Drones?

 The NY Times discusses the unknown drones flying above my house and others here in New Jersey. One would have assumed that our wizards in DoD would have prepared for something like this. But alas they have spend the last decade on social engineering. Imagine in WW II if the Rad Lab at MIT was focused on hiring the right mix rather than radar systems. Perhaps my father would not have returned from the Pacific.

Now lets discuss what can/should be done. Drones have detectable profiles, optical and thermal. Ground based systems can be difficult but multi-beam sensors can be effective. These things also have an RF profile. They do not just fly around unguided. So identify the profile, monitor it, detect sources and sinks. I worked in this area 60 years ago! What has happened to DoD? Recall 9/11 when one could not get aircraft to defend the homeland. Two AF National Guard planes unarmed! 

At some point DoD should be held to account. Their primary goal is defending the United States. In my opinion they have been grossly neglectful.

Identity Theft

 How dumb do they think we are. Two recent events:

1. An on-line pharmacy tried to sell me a prescription. I had checked them our; horrible customer reviews and multiple legal actions. Then they call me, I think, and start asking detailed personal and medical questions. I have no idea who they were so needless to say I read them the HIPAA riot act no less various Federal Laws which they may be in jeopardy of. End of call.

2. A recent attempted delivery of a wine bottle led to a similar problem. They wanted to copy my Government issued ID to assure I was over 21! Do I look over 21, soon to be 82! Would I let some random delivery person have a copy of my Government issued ID. Not that dumb. So back went the package. 

Now perhaps I am too careful, but these two recent events led me to see how easy ID theft can be to the non-wary.

What Has Happened with Amazon?

 Over the past year almost 20% of my Amazon purchases are lost, permanently delayed, misplaced or failed to have been ordered. Mostly books, and it adds up. Their system appears to be decaying in performance and it seems no one cares. I end up going directly to the publisher even if it costs more and take longer. When Amazon is NEVER, "longer" no longer counts.

The Death of Facts

 As the head of Google notes in the NY Times:

Sundar Pichai, the chief executive of Google and its parent company Alphabet, predicted at the DealBook Summit on Wednesday that “search itself will continue to change profoundly in ’25,” and that the pace of artificial intelligence development was “slowing down.”The comments were part of the annual event in Manhattan, a series of discussions with some of the biggest newsmakers in business and global politics. Jeff Bezos, the founder and executive chairman of Amazon and the founder of Blue Origin, will be the final speaker of the day.

I can see what is happening already. When doing a Goggle Search for "Julius Caesar" for example  one gets first an "AI" result. This is a baseless result and may in fact be false. I should be seeing the "facts" such as Caesar's writings, the Roman historians, or other credible historians. NEVER some AI response.

A word for the wise, "Never Ever Trust an AI response" You never know the basis of the response. It is some computerized mish mash of unknown sources. 

But alas, the Mandarins in Silicon Valley want to take the last pieces of reality from us.

Observation

 "When political sects have been too long in office, they start believing they know what is good for you"

Russell Baker, 1992

NIH and Politics

 NIH has had a profound impact in health care. However it also had become a highly politicized and arrogant institution. One must always be aware of who is in charge and who pays your salary. If you own the company 100% perhaps you can get away with a great deal. However even then you have Governmental oversight especially in the US which has the greatest on our planet as I had become aware.

The NY Times bemoans the possible changes in NIH. In my opinion and my experience the problems at NIH, mostly political, are a result of the influence of Fauci and Collins. Collins seemed disconnected and Fauci, well it is Fauci. That good old Jesuit education!

NIH needs uncoupling from politics. However under the coming Administration this may not happen it may just swing another direction. But alas it is Washington. The worst thing to ever happen to NIH is to have it in Washington, or Bethesda. Yet CDC in Atlanta is no better. Why, politics.

Let's hope they do not throw the baby out with the bathwater!