Snow skiers and boarders become water skiers and boarders at A-Basin

Privacy vs. Transparency: Part 1

This is in response to numerous articles about privacy, and specifically Facebook privacy.

I am going to be the devil's advocate here.

I don't think most of us have any privacy anyways.  Our data is out there, whether we like it or not, and whether we post it or not.  The person who wants badly enough to get your information can and will.

I have had this thought in my head for a while now, but haven't had time to write about it.  I think what is really going on is a massive transformation from a private world to a transparent world - and the benefits outweigh the risks.

I firmly believe that much/most of the "evil" in the world happens because of "privacy".  What I mean by that is that people who commit misdeeds have an inherent need to keep that information private.  Yes, it is mixed in with those who fear others who would harm them - but that too is a transparency issue.

Let me explain. 

Those that fear oppression want privacy - so their enemies cannot learn what they say or do, where they are physically located, etc.  But, the oppressors are clearly the "evil" party, and often they are organized and demand secrecy and censorship.  When they are exposed, they can be held accountable, and it is a deterrent to their clandestine activities that harm others.

It's one thing to fear a burglar finding your address on the internet and breaking into your home, it is quite another to have cameras broadcast their burglary in real time, and transmit their face to police.  If the burglar has reason to believe that there is no way to hide their criminal activity, they are less likely to even attempt it. 

I guess what I am saying is that privacy and transparency cut both ways.  I believe we are trending towards a transparent world, where our lives are increasingly being recorded and broadcast with and without our knowledge.  I openly speculate about whether the effort to go backwards into a private world is regression, and whether succumbing to the trend towards transparency is lunacy. 

For myself, I'll speak for my own experience.  In 1997 I made a conscious decision to speak out publicly about legalization of Hemp and Marijuana.  I gave up my privacy in order to spread the truth in the midst of widespread lies about the subject, and devoted my entire livelihood to the effort.  My perspective was that I knew of thousands of people in my life who agreed with me IN PRIVATE, but were deathly afraid of their boss, pastor, parent, peer groups, etc finding out where they really stood.  This, in turn, negatively affects the movement towards legalization, as true supporters actually hide their support out of fear of reprisal - and they falsely believe they are in the minority because so many others are hiding their beliefs as well.

The process of escaping a social stigma is a long hard road.  Ask anyone who is attracted to the same sex.  While we statistically knew for many years that a large population was homosexual, the fact that so many kept it "in the closet" meant that those who would choose to abuse those individuals were empowered by their choice of "privacy" vs. "transparency".  In this case, as in many others, the choice to hide a true state of being (whether it is a discretionary choice or an innate state of being) actually works counter to the collective long-term interest of the group: acceptance by the wider society.

I understand these are difficult choices for some individuals to make, but in my life, a choice to be open and transparent has been the best.  Therefore, I can't say that I agree with a push to be more private in the 21st Century digital age. 

I believe the future success of our culture and species involves a transformative process by which we become collectively more honest, open, and accountable for our actions.  I believe that as long as organizations, corporations, institutions, and governments are held to the same standards of transparency, in the end we have world where people knowing where you live, what your favorite things are, your birthday, and even who you are related to becomes an asset, not a liability.

Social Security Numbers should have passwords

I had this idea a long time ago - Social Security Numbers should have password protection to reduce identity theft.  I happened to be on a ski lift when it came to me, and I told this stranger I was riding the lift with about it.  He happened to be an aide for a US Representative from New York. 

I followed up with him, and formally submitted the idea.  I got a nice letter back thanking me for the suggestion, but it went nowhere after that.  That was 2004.

Someone sent me a video regarding how people can get private information from copiers, and that brought the concept back into my conciousness.  What I didn't have in 2004 that could maybe make this happen is Facebook.

So, I have started a little experiment by creating a Facebook group.  I then invited all 600+ friends I have on FB, and encouraged a few other key people to make a post on their page.  I have 17 members so far.

Next, I submitted the simple idea to CNN, to see if it would get promoted.  Obviously, the group itself is nothing more than a daydream fantasy of someone who works on computers all day today, but wondering if this idea has enough merit to get that viral traction necessary to get noticed by Congress. 

I find it interesting that without any effort, of the members who already joined the group, 23% are NOT currently friends of mine.  In a matter of a few hours, it's already reached beyond my "inner circle". 

The key to this experiment is that the idea is basically one that has few, if any enemies.  Well, those that steal identities for a living, or profit from that, I guess would not be pleased.  But, we can live with those enemies.  The idea isn't a left or right, Republican or Democratic idea.  It's just a plain old good idea.  Nobody has to think to hard to get it, and it doesn't require allegiance to anything to get behind it.  We all have oodles of passwords in our lives, and it seems the time has come to protect something that 100% of Americans should value - their Social Security Account and Number.

We shall see where this goes!

Lost: The greatest serial story ever told

I can watch lost episodes over and over. I am starting to think it's my favorite serial story ever. Each time I go back, I find yet another layer, and another clue. It's hard to believe the story will end.

So what I loved about this week's episode is the fact that I have had this concept for a few years about the show - that while there is this overarching theme of black and white (starting with Locke holding up the backgammon pieces while the wreckage is still burning in the pilot), each character represents a shade of gray.

While there may have been a destiny or fate for them, one by one, they each display that there is BOTH good and bad in them, and the sum of their choices is never one or the other - it's a blend of their good and bad choices, and a general perception of being closer to white or black. But, always still gray.

Well, the most puzzling for me has been Jacob and the MIB. I mean, if you consider the perception that Jacob is the good guy, defending the world from the evil of the MIB, it's one story. But, that had never rung true for me. I could never accept Jacob, because he was giving Ben orders that have resulted in the deaths of so many people, was the good guy.

Similarly, while Smokey, the MIB was definitely a liar, there seemed to be something honest about where he was coming from, his motivations, and his actions. Still, he isn't just the catalyst for murder, he is a murderer - justified or not.

I LOVE the fact that literally every character on the show has blood on their hands means that there are no heroes riding in on white horses. There are humans (some could argue super humans) who make choices, and they are mix of good and bad. There are no good and bad characters on the show, and no predetermined fate.

As Farraday said in the episode where he was killed, he had it all wrong. We are the variables with FREE WILL to make these choices. And, when you add the sci fi twist that is grounded in the true academic reality of physics, time IS elastic and a two-way street, and multiple universes or parallel universes do exist.

It seems to me that where we are heading is describing a human experience where we end up with a storyline that actually just proceeds as though Sept 22, 2004 was just another day where a plane landed in LA. The characters are all destined to be entangled in each other's lives. They face similar choices to the ones in the Island reality, but for some reason the connection with this parallel universe allows some of them to make more educated choices. Or more heartfelt choices. More white than black choices - even though we certainly have evidence of these black choices (sayid, for instance).

I know some will be disappointed when we find out it was "all just a dream" in a parallel universe, but I am pretty sure that when it is all said in done, this story will have more to help people understand advanced physics than any educational device in history.

Weird Dreams: The Room I Never Noticed Before

So, I keep having this recurring dream in my life, where I am someplace familiar, and suddenly I find that there is a door, or secret panel, or passageway in the back of a closet that I have never noticed before.  I go through it, and there is some other room or place I have never been before.  It's been there the whole time, but for my entire life I never bothered to notice.

I had one of these dreams the night before last, and it was about out rental house.  Deb's biggest complaint about that house was that it only had 1 bathroom.

We were in between tenants, and walking through the house (which I knew so well after living there for 7 years), I noticed a door in the corner of the bedroom that hadn't caught my attention before.  I open it, and there is this beautiful bathroom.  The feeling of being so stupid not to notice this washed over me.  In the back of the bathroom was another door, and it opened to this commercial kitchen, which then led into this huge bar room that was set up as a big music hall.  Continuing out the front door of that, it led to a patio, where there was this posh restaurant.

Now, it's obvious that there is no basis in reality for this set-up, because our 1000sqft house is clearly not capable of this square footage, and behind that bedroom in real life is a horse farm.

I just can't figure out why I keep having these "secret room" dreams.  Weird.

Inspiration from the Everyday Workingman

When I was still in grade school, I began working for my Dad.  He had both a painting company and an antique store, and I worked in both.  He had once worked for his Dad as a painter too, and passed along words of wisdom in a way I am sure is repeated millions of times by many other working families.

One day, while painting a house that had some prickly bushes in front of the basement windows, I had taken a shortcut.  I just pushed aside the branches, and without prepping the window at all, I slapped paint on quickly - effectively painting on dirt, pine-needles, and other debris to the window frame. 

I rationalized that no one would ever see the basement window, so the quality didn't matter as much as the windows that were visible.  I added that the homeowner would probably never bother to look either. 

My Dad stopped me, and told me that I needed to clean off the window first, and then use a tarp cloth (at least that is what we called canvas painting tarps) to hold the bush back from the window while I painted.  It wasn't about the rationalizations I had made, but more a principled point about doing things right.

That's the first time I heard the words passed down from my Grandfather: "Any job, big or small, do it right, or not at all."

It's one of those things that sticks in your head - and not just for the fact that it rhymed or that it poetic rhythm.  It simply made sense.  If you are going to bother to do something, do it right the first time - even if no one is looking, or will ever inspect the work.

Last year, when Capt. Sullenberger landed a jet on the Hudson river after a catastrophic collision with some geese stopping both engines, I was not only impressed with what he did, but how every other person involved put aside all else and did exactly what they needed to do in order to save all those lives.  There were people at air traffic control, ferry operators, and many other first responders who came together within minutes to do precisely what was necessary to save the passengers.

In the interviews that followed, what impressed me the most about Capt. Sullenberger was the fact that he didn't really think he did anything heroic.  He simply applied decades of study and experience to a situation, and executed his plan flawlessly.  He just did his job. 

It's not surprising that even after a year of investigating and researching the incident, we find that it really wasn't a "miracle" on the Hudson at all.  In fact, we find that while it can be argued that the plane was not fitted with the necessary safety equipment that could have undermined their efforts, they did the best they could with what they had.  And, had it not been for the ferry operators being trained and ready to react to this situation, the safe landing could have been all for naught, as the survivors succumbed to the numbing waters of the river - without enough life vests.   

So, as I am watching the events unfold regarding the 5/1/10 attempted car-bombing in Times Square, I am struck by the same sense of awe and appreciation for professionals that came together to actually catch a criminal about to get out of the country on a plane.  Certainly, there is room for improvement, as has been noted in the media.  But, without a doubt, many people, both law enforcement and civilians, came together in a professional manner to "connect the dots" in real-time to take action to catch the guy literally fleeing the country.

I think that we under-appreciate those that never get adorned with the title of "hero", but whose dedication to doing whatever job right, big or small, results in a collective heroic action.  Since the media are not going to elevate these persons to that status, or put them in the favorable spotlight they deserve, it's appropriate for those of us who recognize their efforts to reach out and say "thank you" for a job well done. 

I truly believe that when we look back on this time in history, it's individuals like this who will turn out to be the collective inspiration for those of us who don't need the promise of a gold star or being in the limelight to be professional, and take their job seriously.  It doesn't matter whether the work we do goes unseen, we should do our best 100% of the time, regardless.  This, more than anything, is how we recover from a blow to our economy and our confidence that makes some of us doubt our future and our potential.  This is how we regain what was lost, and achieve things we previously thought were impossible.

Learning to edit videos in iMovie

I have spent at least 10 hours in the past week getting up to speed on using our new Canon FS100 video camera, and learning how to edit and post those videos on YouTube and some of the new blogs I have also created in the past week.

The primary motivation was our friends Jenn and Cole getting married on Friday April 30 at a winery in Denver - Bonacquisti Wine Company.  The wedding was a home-grown wedding, and friends and family took on some of the roles like catering and photography.  While they did find an official professional photographer, it gave me the opportunity to take more pictures and videos than normal without being too annoying.

One of the things I enjoy about doing this for friends at a wedding is that you get a unique opportunity to introduce yourself to people.  "Hi, I'm Andy.  Can I take your picture?" was my standard introduction, and it allowed me to break the ice in a less awkward manner to friends and family of the bride and groom.  But, with a video camera, I can also get "confessionals" that end up covering a spectrum from sweet to comical.

Here's a slideshow of the 283 pictures that Deb and I snapped at the gathering.



The confessionals were generally 5 to 30 seconds long, and often began with "Is it on now?".  This required me to not only learn how to import the files from the camera, but to edit out the parts that weren't part of the intended message.  It was a little clunky at first, but eventually I learned how to drag the border overlaid on the movie frames to begin or end the segment exactly where I wanted.  Once "clipped", I then dragged the finished segment to the project window, where it followed previous segments.

What I haven't learned yet is how to put a clip into the middle of two other segments - something for another day.  So, I was required to work sequential to my final work.  Not too big a deal for a short 10 minute video.

I was able to upload the movies directly to YouTube using the iMovie software - a native function of the software using a pull-down menu.  It allowed me to put a Title and Description on the YouTube video prior to upload, as well as tags.

I decided that since this movie was personal, I needed to have a new personal video account on YouTube, so as not to mix it with videos for our business.  While this might be a problem for some programs, apparently iMovie has overcome this obstacle before, and you can actually have it remember multiple YouTube accounts.  Makes me wonder what the rest of the world is doing with videos, needing multiple accounts.

Overall, I was impressed with the quality of the Canon FS100 camera, as it captured the sound of my subjects very well - even in the noisy gathering of a wedding.  It even worked well outdoors, later in the evening, when the bride and groom gave Darcy (arguably the Maid of Honor) a scooter due to a wager placed years ago on who would get married first.

While I know I have a long way to go in video editing, I was proud to have accomplished this small project, and get the basic skills necessary to do more frequent video promotions of the products we sell at debnroo.com.  I made a video on Saturday for the Wall o' Water Repair Kits that turned out well - even at sunset with super-bright light.  I even did a short video of Wilson and Sunshine in the OctoGarden with the music of Thievery Corporation playing from our Bose speakers sitting on the air conditioner.  Again, the quality of the sound pickup from this cameral was impressive.

I'd love to hear comments from any of you videographers out there who can judge my initial work, and perhaps offer tips.  I feel like I have so much to learn, but am proud of the fact I can at least deliver content to our sites and our blogs.