Don't Say This - The Government Watch List

If you've ever thought that the US Government is watching what you do, you're right, they are. The Department of Homeland Security just releases a list of words that will that will trigger a high alert warning on their "watch system".
There's the typical words like "hostage" and "dirty bomb" but there are some weird ones too. Words like cloud, drill, response, crash, China, command, snow, pork, airport, electric, bridge, canceled...

So definitely don't go on Facebook and post "Hey everyone, my flight to China was canceled because of snow, so i'm sitting in the airport until i hear a response. But it's ok i'm playing a game of bridge on my electric tablet and eating a pork sandwich." Or the government will be watching you with one of these unmanned drone aircraft's.

Here's the official PDF document that the Department of Homeland Security released. And this chart reminds me of the Always Sunny in Philadelphia episode where Mac and Frank are having a color fight, arguing whether threat level orange or yellow is more terrifying.

And finally, here is the full list of words the government is on the look-out for.

Domestic Security Assassination Attack Domestic security Drill Exercise Cops Law enforcement Authorities Disaster assistance Disaster management DNDO (Domestic Nuclear Detection Office) National preparedness Mitigation Prevention Response Recovery Dirty bomb Domestic nuclear detection Emergency management Emergency response First responder Homeland security Maritime domain awareness (MDA) National preparedness initiative Militia Shooting Shots fired Evacuation Deaths Hostage Explosion (explosive) Police Disaster medical assistance team (DMAT) Organized crime Gangs National security State of emergency Security Breach Threat Standoff SWAT Screening Lockdown Bomb (squad or threat) Crash Looting Riot Emergency Landing Pipe bomb Incident Facility HAZMAT & Nuclear Hazmat Nuclear Chemical spill Suspicious package/device Toxic National laboratory Nuclear facility Nuclear threat Cloud Plume Radiation Radioactive Leak Biological infection (or event) Chemical Chemical burn Biological Epidemic Hazardous Hazardous material incident Industrial spill Infection Powder (white) Gas Spillover Anthrax Blister agent Chemical agent Exposure Burn Nerve agent Ricin Sarin North Korea Health Concern + H1N1 Outbreak Contamination Exposure Virus Evacuation Bacteria Recall Ebola Food Poisoning Foot and Mouth (FMD) H5N1 Avian Flu Salmonella Small Pox Plague Human to human Human to Animal Influenza Center for Disease Control (CDC) Drug Administration (FDA) Public Health Toxic Agro Terror Tuberculosis (TB) Agriculture Listeria Symptoms Mutation Resistant Antiviral Wave Pandemic Infection Water/air-borne Sick Swine Pork Strain Quarantine H1N1 Vaccine Tamiflu Norvo Virus Epidemic World Health Organization (WHO) (and components) Viral Hemorrhagic Fever E. Coli Infrastructure Security Infrastructure security Airport Airplane (and derivatives) Chemical fire CIKR (Critical Infrastructure& Key Resources) AMTRAK Collapse Computer infrastructure Communications infrastructure Telecommunications Critical infrastructure National infrastructure Metro WMATA Subway BART MARTA Port Authority NBIC (National Biosurveillance Integration Center) Transportation security Grid Power SmartBody scanner Electric Failure or outage Black out Brown out Port Dock Bridge Cancelled Delays Service disruption Power lines Southwest Border Violence Drug cartel Violence Gang Drug Narcotics Cocaine Marijuana Heroin Border Mexico Cartel

Southwest Juarez Sinaloa Tijuana Torreon Yuma Tucson Decapitated U.S. Consulate Consular El Paso Fort Hancock San Diego Ciudad Juarez Nogales Sonora Colombia Mara salvatrucha MS13 or MS-13 Drug war Mexican army Methamphetamine Cartel de Golfo Gulf Cartel La Familia Reynosa Nuevo Leon Narcos Narco banners (Spanish equivalents) Los Zetas Shootout Execution Gunfight Trafficking Kidnap Calderon Reyosa Bust Tamaulipas Meth Lab Drug trade Illegal immigrants Smuggling (smugglers) Matamoros Michoacana Guzman Arellano-Felix Beltran-Leyva Barrio Azteca Artistic Assassins Mexicles New Federation Terrorism Terrorism Al Qaeda (all spellings) Terror Attack Iraq Afghanistan Iran Pakistan Agro Environmental terrorist Eco terrorism Conventional weapon Target Weapons grade Dirty bomb Enriched Nuclear Chemical weapon Biological weapon Ammonium nitrate Improvised explosive device IED (Improvised Explosive Device) Abu Sayyaf Hamas FARC (Armed Revolutionary Forces Colombia) IRA (Irish Republican Army) ETA (Euskadi ta Askatasuna) Basque Separatists Hezbollah Tamil Tigers PLF (Palestine Liberation Front) PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) Car bomb Jihad Taliban Weapons cache Suicide bomber Suicide attack Suspicious substance AQAP (AL Qaeda Arabian Peninsula) AQIM (Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb) TTP (Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan) Yemen Pirates Extremism Somalia Nigeria Radicals Al-Shabaab Home grown Plot Nationalist Recruitment Fundamentalism Islamist Weather/Disaster/Emergency Emergency Hurricane Tornado Twister Tsunami Earthquake Tremor Flood Storm Crest Temblor Extreme weather Forest fire Brush fire Ice Stranded/Stuck Help Hail Wildfire Tsunami Warning Center Magnitude Avalanche Typhoon Shelter-in-place Disaster Snow Blizzard Sleet Mud slide or Mudslide Erosion Power outage Brown out Warning Watch Lightening Aid Relief Closure Interstate Burst Emergency Broadcast System Cyber Security Cyber security Botnet DDOS (dedicated denial of service) Denial of service Malware Virus Trojan Keylogger Cyber Command 2600 Spammer Phishing Rootkit Phreaking Cain and abel Brute forcing Mysql injection Cyber attack Cyber terror Hacker China Conficker Worm Scammers Social media

Video Chat - Skype vs Tango

Last week when i went out of town, Karrie and i decided to try out video chat. Just like in every sci-fi movie of the future, where people don't just talk on the phone, but also see the persons face. We decided to try both Skype and Tango, the two most popular video chat programs.
VS.

When comparing the two i realized that the program for the PC was not the same as the mobile version for the cell phone. So i came out with two different results:



Video Chat using a Computer
If you have a microphone and you are using you computer or laptop, then the winner is:

Skype had lots of features and easy to use. When you run the program on your computer, you are able to clearly see all of those features and understand how everything works. But you have to make sure you have a webcam and microphone. Some laptops now come with those built in.

Video Chat using a Cell Phone
If you are planning on using video chat with a cell phone, then the winner is:

When you are using a cell phone you don't need lots of features. In fact it's a lot easier to use an app with a simple interface. No clutter no fancy options, just turn it on, call and video talk. With a small cell phone screen, it's not easy to see and use all of the buttons. That's why i liked Tango's interface better.

So if you are looking to try out video chat with your family and friends, the program you want depends on whether you will be using your computer or cell phone. I would think that the majority of people now a days would be using their cell phone. In that case i would recommend connecting to a wi-fi first. It takes a lot of bandwidth to transfer live video. If you have a bad connection, the video can get really choppy. Also your phone needs to have a forward facing camera, otherwise you won't be able to see the person you are talking to, and sort of ruins the whole point.

New Cottage on the Lake

My sister and brother in law just bought a cottage on the west side of the state. It's on a lake, so last weekend we helped them move the jet boat and boat hoist.

Here's pictures of the weekend we were up north to take the hoist apart. Then this weekend all of the parts to the shore station/boat lift were loaded on to a trailer and strapped down.

On our way with the jet boat and hoist.

Here is a panorama of the lake and cottage.

(click to enlarge)

I tried out my homemade ND filter with my camera. It really makes a calm looking photograph, especially when it's converted to black and white. This picture was a 30 second exposure.

Here's a time lapse video of us putting in the dock and putting the boat hoist together. It only took 2.5 hours to do but unfortunately my camera battery died after about 2 hours. So you miss seeing us push it over the sea wall and into the water.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yRTklcaGzc

The rest of the weekend was spent swimming and watching max jumping off the dock, into the water.

This is a picture i took from about 8' past the end of the dock.

That's his Kong he's chasing on the right.

And here's more pictures of the lake and Max.

Game of Thrones - Season 3

Game of Thrones has become one of my favorite shows on TV. Season 2 just ended and now is the long winters wait for Season 3 to begin.

Question:
When does Season 3 of Game of Thrones start?

Answer:
It should air April 2013 - Sunday nights at 9 p.m.

It's a bummer that it won't be returning to TV until April of 2013, but with the way this show is filmed, at actual locations, with mountain landscapes, deserts and castles makes for long seasons of shooting.

Here's the cast of the show at Comic Con. George R.R. Martin is the weird guy with suspenders on the right. And my boy Peter Dinklage is on the left, looks like he's having an awesome time.

This is what i would have pictured the author to look like. He reminds me of the bookstore owner from the Neverending Story.

So you don't have the premium cable package but still want to watch the show? Well you could shell out $34 and buy the complete 1st season from Amazon. Season 2 isn't out yet, but soon that will cost around $40.

As i've said before there are other ways to watch TV shows online for free. The link below explains how to watch virtually any show.

Watch Free TV Online - The Top 10 Free TV Links

Or for the lazy people:
Option 1: (Standard Def)
Here's Game of Thrones - Season 1 and 2 - Project Free TV.

Option 2: (High Def - 720p)
This method is a little more complicated but if you want to watch the shows in HD, it's the only way to go.

Game of Thrones - Season 1

Game of Thrones - Season 2


This is the final scene from the last episode of Season 2. A lot more happened in the final episode, as always, leaving a lot of questions for the start of Season 3.

http://youtu.be/P6yoS3LFIFM?t=2m


Questions i have for Season 3:

First, Joffrey better die, i hate him. I know it's due to good writing and acting but he has to be the most annoying character on television and i wonder if he's killed off in Season 3.

Second, what's going to happen with the white walkers? Do they climb the wall and invade the lands to the south? The show doesn't rely on lots of special effects, but these guys were really cool looking.

I think i might start listening to the audio book/book on tape of the Game of Thrones series.

Game of Thrones Audio Boooks - Complete 4 books

Skipping the 2 prequel books and just starting where the show begins:

Book Series - A Song of Fire and Ice
1 - A Game of Thrones
2 - A Clash of Kings
3 - A Storm of Swords
4 - A Feast for Crows
5 - A Dance with Dragons
6 - The Winds of Winter
7 - A Dream of Spring