#1 most yelled name of 2017

Not, it isn't little Suzie, not even little Jimmy. 

I'll give you a hint, it's a female name, it starts with A... and you've probably shouted that name a dozen times in the last two days...

Yup, you guessed it (or not)... Alexa.

In her many forms, Echo, Echo Dot, Echo 2nd gen, Echo Look, Tap, Dash Wand, Amazon Fire TV and now the car version, ironically named Muse. Which means "to think," and by having a Muse, you have to do less thinking, as you can control your house from that thing, music, recipes etc, anything you did on your echo... only now, the size of an oreo (borrowed comparison) USB compatible... (bad luck for anyone wanting it in an old car.) Time to buy an adapter...

Who hasn't heard this? Alexa... play pop music.... Alexa, turn it up... ALEXA!!!

I've even heard people getting impatient with her, isn't it strange to think we didn't have her just a few years ago?

Regardless, the list of things she can do is... Impressive, most impressive.



Basic commands, from play music, to find me a recipe, or let's have a conversation have filled more houses than ever before, a must-have item is now little more than a given when you enter a house.

Whether bringing a female voice into every bachelor's house, dorm or flat was a good choice, only time will tell.

Regardless, the name went from 63rd most popular girls baby name, to 31st the next year, since then it's steadily dropped...

The device was endearing, special, unique, and yet, in a way, it quickly became less so... it quickly took the role it was created for, and being our very own robot in the home, we stopped wanting our kids named after a robot, and unless I miss my guess, the name Alexa will suffer in rating more and more...

So while it's lost some of its initial shine, it more and more falls into the gap Amazon wanted it to fill.

Until next time, enjoy your Alexa, in whatever form you use her.


Further reading:

https://www.cnet.com/how-to/amazon-echo-the-complete-list-of-alexa-commands/

Light Web VS the Dark Web...

I feel like I should be using Darth Vadar as the poster boy for this article...



Naturally, he's looking very dark, but also familiar...

Which IRONICALLY, is the OPPOSITE of the DARK WEB.

What is the DARK WEB?

Let me start by saying what it isn't...

It ISN'T Amazon...
It ISN'T Ebay...
It ISN'T Anything you visit normally... unless you're REALLY bad with a search engine... (since it'll never show up on there) or a career criminal...

The life of the INTERNET is actually similar to that of Anakin Skywalker...

Long ago it was young, simple and obnoxious...it grew up, became lovable, and more and more useful...

The Dark side grew in both, until they were largely consumed by "evil."



But how does it work? Well, it works much like the "light" web, but with a noted difference...

If someone tried to sell illegal weapons, (switchblades, automatics, explosives etc) or drugs, they'd be tracked down and arrested pretty quickly for trying to sell big heat and crack out of their momma's basement...



But what if... their IP address couldn't be tracked?

An IP address is much like a mailing address, except it's more complicated, and dark web users can use programs like 'Tor' to create a webpage... (it's interesting to note, Tor domain names end in .onion)

And Tor bounces their IP all over the world, as many times as there is levels of code, that way, each bounce, one strip of code is lost and it is 'impossible' to track down the original location of the domain name...

This being said, recently during "Operation Onymous" a global task force arrested 17 suspects in as many countries and 414 .onion domain names were also taken in the bust.

Like Life, the law will find a way.




Visiting the dark web is impossible without a special program like Tor, but while most visiting isn't illegal, all visits are unadvised.

further reading:

https://www.wired.com/2014/11/operation-onymous-dark-web-arrests/

https://www.techadvisor.co.uk/how-to/internet/dark-web-3593569/

https://www.wired.com/2014/11/hacker-lexicon-whats-dark-web/

Addiction...

It's always been a topic as complicated as they come...But are we alone in our fight against the monkey on our back?Perhaps not, studies begin to formulate a pattern of abuse of substance in animals as well:

• Wallabies high as kites on opium, who are most likely forced to eat the buds when their other food sources are scarce...

• Dolphins on pufferfish poison, although being extremely toxic (over 1,000 times stronger than cyanide) they prick themselves lightly and receive a sufficient dose to achieve an altered state of mind without being fatal.

• The monkeys at St Kitts, who have been indulging in "adult beverages" since the age of exploration, and who have been documented as having groups of teens drinking the most, while adults drink less, and there even exists a group of teetotaling monkeys...

• Reindeer and the highly toxic Amanita muscaria mushroom, whose colorful history includes savage fights over the mushrooms, and even Siberian natives who fed the mushrooms to the reindeer, and then drank the animal's urine to avoid the dizziness humans normally experience from directly ingesting them.

• Songbirds in Vienna, who were found dead with broken necks, presumably from crashing into windows, bellies full of fermenting berries, their livers like that of chronic alcoholics.  

• Bats in central and south america who can hold their liquor to such degrees that in tests of over a hundred bats, even those with blood alcohol levels exceeding legal limits, their senses and sonar were unaffected..

If substance abuse is so widespread, it ranges from the food we eat, to the things we're exposed to...While I've used animals to establish addiction as a "natural" thing, it doesn't stop with the natural world, beyond plants and roots and psychotropic fungi there is a new addiction gripping humanity...TECHNOLOGY....It shouldn't come as much of a surprise that tech is addictive... What's not to love about having everything you need at your fingertips? Any number, source, recipe, face, place or time on your device...whether you're a tablet person, or your average smartphone user.Tech is miraculous, ironically. It can let you see the one you love ten thousand miles away, talk to them while watching them react, in real time...You can take this inanimate sheet of plastic and metal, push on places of the screen to infinite combinations, and be rewarded with whatever you desire... hear any song, watch nearly any movie, and talk to anyone who agrees to it... (no app for freewill yet) and some who don't.(trolling is ironically human as well, but that's another topic for another day)It's powerful...Power is also addicting....That said, at least two Apple investors have taken it upon themselves to push the tech giant to put resources into creating more documented information about the effects of technology addiction in children..."Children lack the maturity to consistently keep themselves out of self-harm," one parent stated, "hence the natural role of parent, not to confine the child itself, but to limit possible harm."While I respect his opinion, I'd go one step further and say that it is inherently the parent's responsibility, and NOT the company's to enforce standards of healthy use.I once heard of a man who built a lego home with no doors to lock himself inside when hiding from the police... how ludicrous would it be to suggest we place limits on how much we may use our creativity, even in dire circumstances...
After all, each situation is unique. If a child spent 2 hours on watching age-appropriate educational media, while another spent one hour on Angry Birds, which is harmful?Neither is... tech is not evil, games are not evil. Children can take in large amounts of information, and as such, cope well with modern computing speeds and the speed at which our current rumor mill is capable...(think high-speed global internet)But children require guidelines, "adult supervision" to help them choose wisely, or be chosen for, in the case of establishing parental controls on devices. Upon interviewing a list of parents I found the feeling unanimously mutual that the responsibility to restrict such substances lied with the parents and them only..."Teens can't text and drive, it's illegal, and gets people killed every year," said a mother of 4, "but I hope my kids are wise enough that they never would try such a thing by that age."Texting and other activities on a handheld device while driving are illegal in at least 15 states, as it IS the government's job to control public safety...
In conclusion, addiction is not in and of itself, a mortal sin, many addictions are legal and are not internally or externally damaging, perhaps, all we really need to remember, to keep our primitive desires in check, is "all things in moderation."Watching 23 hours of tv a day for a year is not moderation, and texting is a good and valuable skill unless it keeps you from ever socializing with others in the same room, or is ever attempted behind a wheel.
Further reading:http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/wildlife/2011/10/animals-getting-high-10-common-drunkshttp://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-apple-child-gadget-addiction-20180108-story.html