IBM's Watson Wants to Examine Your DNA

From PC Mag.com (Nov. 12):

How much exercise should I get today? How much coffee can I drink on Monday? These are questions you might ask yourself, not really expecting an actual response, but if IBM has its way, its Watson supercomputer will soon be able to supply the answers.

IBM's Watson Group today announced an undisclosed investment in Pathway Genomics to create the first cognitive consumer app based on a user's genetic makeup.

Citing research on genomic medicine, IBM said the bioinformatics market is expected to grow to $12.86 billion by 2020. Few consumers, however, have access to or can benefit from personalized wellness-related recommendations tailored to their individual needs. Which is where IBM and Pathway Genomics come in.

By leveraging the natural language processing and cognitive capabilities of Watson, consumers will be able to "Ask Watson" for insights, based on their own genes, wearable data, and other wellness information, like emotional, physical, and social well being. [read more]

I am surprised Google hasn’t done this already. Don’t we—ie America—have this already? Her name is Michelle Obama—well, at least for the wellness information anyway.

You really want to ask a computer for insights about emotional and social well being? I can see it now. Some girl or woman will be using this app and it tells her the guy she is dating isn’t good for her. So much for getting advice from her girlfriends.

What if Google (or other competitors) makes their own app and you have this app. You might have two “advisors” with conflicting advice.

Chinese hack U.S. weather systems, satellite network

From The Washington Post.com (Nov. 12):

Hackers from China breached the federal weather network recently, forcing cybersecurity teams to seal off data vital to disaster planning, aviation, shipping and scores of other crucial uses, officials said.

The intrusion occurred in late September but officials gave no indication that they had a problem until Oct. 20, according to three people familiar with the hack and the subsequent reaction by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or NOAA, which includes the National Weather Service. Even then, NOAA did not say its systems were compromised.

Officials also said that the agency did not notify the proper authorities when it learned of the attack. [read more]

Even if the Chinese gov’t didn’t do the hack, they probably didn’t discourage it. As long as the hackers are not hacking China the gov’t don’t care. Heck, they probably even encourage it. The Chinese gov’t is not America’s friend. Then have Obama over there chewing gum and looking bored. He’s probably thinking to himself “I rather be golfing.”

Socialism 101 Part 9

If one understands that socialism is not a share-the-wealth program but is in reality a method to consolidate and control wealth, then the seeming paradox of super-rich people promoting socialism becomes no paradox at all. Instead it becomes logical. It is the perfect tool of power-seeking megalomaniacs. Communism or socialism is not a movement of the downtrodden masses but of the economic elite. - Gary Allen

Control is the key word here. The Left think people are basically stupid and can’t be trusted to run their own lives so they have to be managed by “smarter” people—the elites.

The economic elite can only control all the wealth if they are the gov’t or have connections to the gov’t aka cronyism.

Miscellaneous Thoughts Part 34

• I am against dwarf bowling. I think this sport could be harmful to dwarfs especially when they run into the bowling pins.
• The free-market system is like voting. Every time you buy a product or use a business’ service you are basically expressing your interest for one product or service over another. It is about choice. So, if you are against the free-market you are against the right to vote.
• A basketball team cannot win a game if everyone passes the ball. Some player has to be selfish and risk a shot. Even in team sports individual talents is important. There is no such thing as a collective.
• Humor: There is a secret group called the Free Accordionists. They are like the Free Masons but haven’t been around that long.
• The free-market system uses a breadth first search algorithm to solve problems.
• If a person has a potentially fatal contagious disease (like Ebola) it is his/her responsibility not to go out in public and infect everyone. This includes buses, taxis, and especially airplanes.
• The formula for power corrupting: Arrogance + power = control freak.
• The scientific triad: The scientific method, curiosity, fair-mindedness.
• Executive orders should be limited to six per term.
• The problem with socialism is everyone wants to share the benefits but no-one wants to share the costs.

Thoughts of Galileo Galilei

Here are some interesting thoughts of the astronomer Galileo Galilei:

I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him.

I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.

You cannot teach a man anything, you can only help him find it within himself.

All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.

For in the sciences the authority of thousands of opinions is not worth as much as one tiny spark of reason in an individual man. Besides, the modern observations deprive all former writers of any authority, since if they had seen what we see, they would have judged as we judge.

Passion is the genesis of genius.

They seemed to forget that the increase of known truths stimulates the investigation, establishment and growth of the arts; not their dimination or destruction.

Who indeed will set bounds to human ingenuity? Who will assert that everything in the universe capable of being perceived is already discovered and known?

Assertive Beliefs

Other people cannot be trusted to do as they are told.Much of what we do, say or feel is based on our beliefs. Problems occur when we hold contradictory beliefs about ourselves and about other people. If you have assertive beliefs then assertive behavior will follow.

Beliefs that drive assertive behavior include:

• I am equal to others with the same fundamental rights.
• I am free to think, choose and make decisions for myself.
• I am able to try things, make mistakes, learn and improve.
• I am responsible for my own actions and my responses to other people.
• I do not need permission to take action.
• It is okay to disagree with others. Agreement is not always necessary or possible.

Hmmm. Sounds like conservative beliefs to me. If gov’t would encourage these beliefs the country would be better off.

Source: How to Drive a Tank and Other Everyday Tips for the Modern Gentleman (2012) by Frank Coles.

On the other hand these aggressive beliefs sound like the Left:

• I am cleverer and more powerful than other people.
• Other people cannot be trusted to do as they are told.
• It’s a dog-eat-dog world. I must get other people before they get me.
• The only way to get things done is to tell people. Asking is a sign of weakness.
• People who do not fight hard for what they want get what they deserve.

The IRS Closed This Grandmother’s Bank Account and Seized Nearly $33,000 From Her

From The Blaze.com (Oct. 29):

The IRS closed her bank account and seized nearly $33,000 of her money — but wait until you hear what her “crime” was.

Grandmother and small business owner Carole Hinders said the seizure happened one day in May 2013, and it took her completely by surprise because the money seized was the fruit of her honest labor.

“How can I be committing a crime by depositing money that I worked for, and deposited in my own bank account?” Hinders asked. “In 30 years of banking with the same bank, no one ever mentioned that I was making my deposits wrong.”

It all relates to what the IRS calls “structuring,” when someone makes withdrawals or deposits strategically under the amount of $10,000 to avoid having their bank file a currency transaction report with the Feds.

But in cases like Hinders’, small business owners aren’t “structuring” to avoid paperwork or get away with illicit uses of money — they just make frequent deposits under $10,000 because their businesses aren’t bringing in more money. [read more]

This is a good reason why the tax law should really be examined. And if a rule is confusing or unfair—eliminate it! There are so many rules who knows if you violated one or not. It’s ridiculous. As Chief Justice John Marshall once said: The power to tax is the power to destroy. Just ask any conservative group. You want to talk about a war, this is a war on the small business elderly person. Or small business woman.

One last thing to think about. Under tax law, the taxpayer is assumed guilty unless proven innocent. And the taxpayer is the one who has to prove his/her innocent. That’s why people need tax lawyers and tax accountants.