What ARE Bitcoins, and How Can I Get Some?

Well we should have known it would only be a matter of time.  Just like everything else Internet.  Yes, MONEY!   Our dearly beloved Web has spawned Money of its own. 

Like everything else, there's a bit of time lag, as this is not a brand new development.

The name of the crypto-currency game is Bitcoin.  And it has captivated the internet and the world lately with stories of new found wealth, and sometimes bad luck.  Like the story of James Howell, an IT worker from Newport, Wales, who discovered he had accidentally thrown out a hard drive containing 7500 bitcoins, now worth $8 million.  He obtained the coins in 2009 for almost nothing.  When he threw out his old hard drive last July -now buried in a Newport landfill- the coins were worth nearly $900,000.

What  is Bitcoin?

Bitcoin is an open source, decentralized, peer-to-peer, digital currency and payment network that is completely based on the belief that Bitcoin has value.  It was introduced in 2009 by the pseudonymous developer "Satashi Nakamoto".  It is called crypto-currency, or cryptocurrency, because it uses cryptography to secure funds.  At the basic fundamental level, bitcoins themselves are strings of numbers generated in a computer.  Bitcoins are transferred between addresses derived from cryptographic keys. According to the Bitcoin Website, "Bitcoin is nothing more than a mobile app or computer program that provides a personal Bitcoin wallet and allows a user to send and receive bitcoins with them."  A wallet is a collection of addresses and their associated private keys.  Transactions are verified on a decentralized network of computers all over the world.  A proof-of-work system is used by designated computers in the system to prevent double-spending of the same bitcoins twice, a problem with digital currencies.  That's where the private keys for Bitcoin addresses come in, to validate authenticity.  This diagram does a good job of showing what takes place during a given Bitcoin transaction.

Notice the .999 fine silver on these Casascius coins

You buy bitcoins through an exchange where you set up an account that you transfer funds into to start the process.  They can also be exchanged in physical form with the Casascius coin, each worth a digital Bitcoin.  These coins are produced by Casascius LLC, a Utah Limited Liability Company, and are encoded with the actual digital value of a given bitcoin.  You can also acquire them through payment for goods and services, exchanging them with other individuals, and earning them through competitive mining, where you donate your computer's time to Bitcoin, so it can be used to solve complex mathematical  problems required to validate transactions.  When a problem is solved, you are awarded bitcoins as a transaction fee.

Very fine minting is quite evident here

Storing bitcoins can be done in several different ways, however security has been an issue that has seen a lot of noteriety of late.  They can be stored online, on personal hardware, or on paper print-outs.  The best proposed method of storage is suggested to be paper generated by a known safe computer.  According to Bitcoin, the main risk to wallets is user error leading to lose or deletion, or poor security enabling theft.  

In 2012, The Economist proposed that Bitcoin has become so popular because of "its role in dodgy online markets", a notion that seems quite logical, considering the unregulated nature of the beast.  And by this time, most of us are at least a little familiar with the Silk Road saga that played out, and is actually still plating out, earlier this year.  When the FBI shut down Silk Road v.1.0 in mid-2013, they subsequently took control of approximately %1.5 of all bitcoins in circulation, lending solid credence to the notion.  

That's a point worth noting, as governments don't like unregulated, untraceable currency at all.  It is a threat to the power base and status quo.  There will be further convulsive fits of angry aggression as the governments and "old money" of the world try to find ways to reign in this new terror Bitcoin.          

It is worth mentioning that within twenty-four hours of the FBI shutdown, the Silk Road v.2.0 was up and running.  Several incarnations of the notorious website have supposedly been in operation in the months following the raid.  This type of activity is a good example of just how untraceable bitcoins are, as the Silk Road had been a purveyor of any drug imaginable, guns,

murder for hire, prostitution, and possibly any other crime you can think up.  And the first directive on the site was "get some untraceable money".  Founder Ross William Ulbricht awaits murder and narcotics charges in New York.  See my blog "Social Media and the Illusion of Safety and Security in the Information Age" for more on the Silk Road and Ulbricht.



Bitcoins have been likened to a Ponzi scheme, and eminent collapse is predicted, regularly at that.  It is said to contain the seeds of its own destruction, in that it is not unique in history, and resembles many forms that have come and gone; until central banks came to be in the 17th century, currency was unregulated even if governments did make it.  And think of gold, silver, bank notes, coal company scrip, even cigarettes in a prison.  Many in the economic fields have noted that money can't succeed with a fixed supply, as with the Bitcoin cap.  Currency is to be used for transactions, and the more transactions there are, the more money you need.  Note the fractional use of bitcoins already.  If there are going to be unlimited fractions of a bitcoin, then there is effectively not a cap on the quantity.  That is a fundamental contradiction in the stated postulate behind the theorem of this "new" currency.  If there is simply new funding paying for former funding, and no return on an underlying investment to generate growth and value, the device will collapse.  If people decide that bitcoins have no value, the system of Bitcoin will collapse.  There could be sad times for those on the top floors of the house of cards.  But we can't possibly go to economics school here.  Just some thoughts to mull, and perhaps get you thinking in other directions.

In the time that Bitcoin has existed, it has been lauded as the gateway to utopia, and scorned as nothing short of a colossal scam.  Some of the predictions of doom that I have studied come from a time when the value of a bitcoin hovered at around $250, and shortly before at $10.  With today's value fluctuating around $1,000, it might seem that the naysayers are wrong.  But I don't think this is necessarily the case.  It could be that the bubble simply continues to grow.  That time in the past when a bitcoin would buy you a pizza, maybe?  Last year.  So, as always has been the case, don't put all your eggs in one basket.


That is some impressive growth.

I really am not particularly for or against Bitcoin.  I actually like the notion of a money that can be used privately to conduct your business as you see fit, without interference from outside forces that probably don't care a damn about me as a human being.  But we all, especially those of us
in the IT fields, know that there are dark forces busy at work out there on the Dark Net, seeking only to enrich themselves at any cost.  And some inflicting as much damage as they can while they're at it, just for the hell of it.  So, my friends, do be careful in all that you do, and may God go with you.

And so the dice roll.

Three Big Social Media Sites That Keep Getting Bigger (Well, 2 of Them, Anyway)

It's probably safe to wager on Google+ entering the list impressively

  Facebook is the dominant force in social media sites, period.  They simply have it down.  Myspace tripped up somewhere back there somewhere.  I do recall that they were quit popular once upon a while ago.  I did not use their service, but I knew a lot of people that did, and perhaps still do.  I'll temper my comments about them, because, as the list shows, they aren't doing too bad user wise.  Google has done a fair job of breaking into the market with Google+, from what I can tell.  There are things about their pages and service that I do like.  Plus, with Google+, you get the package that Google Inc. has built for all mankind to take for granted with the spoiled, affluent attitude this society has spawned.

So let's look at Flopspace, I mean Myspace.

They try, bless their hearts, they do.  I just don't like the way they operate.  My account is bombarded with crap.  Crap I don't want to see or hear.  Yes, I can get rid of it, but I don't think I should have to mess with it.

OK, I was right about Google+; Facebook's not doing too shabby, though

Wait.  I'll stop now with my bias toward MySpace and talk a bit about the setup they use for a page.

MySpace operates sideways, literally.  When you scroll your page, it goes left to right.  After you use it awhile it doesn't seem so odd.  Maybe it's just an effort to be unique.  A page is populated by boxes with different purposes or actions.  There's a double linked ring Connect to click that you use to link to things you like.  And did I mention everything is left to right?  The pages are actually large.  I mean there is a lot of content.  After you navigate awhile you get more feel for things and then it's simply a matter of linking to what you like.

Like all social sites, it's up to you to fill your page with content.  There is a direct link to Facebook and Twitter offered.  I suppose if you can't beat 'em, join 'em, huh.  You can amass libraries of music and vids to your taste, and populate your contacts with others who have similar likes.  They catalog about 42 million songs, so you should be able to find something you like.  And of course, you can bring all your friends along for the trip.

Pages for movies, causes, organizations, corporations, and of course, people

I honestly haven't used this site much, and my personal page is not very developed.  I have messed with it enough to be able to navigate well enough that I don't feel like I'm faking it just for an assignment's sake, though.

See, this woman has tailored her page to her personality

If one were to put a little time into this site, and developed it somewhat, it could be useful to a degree.  It is another tool to expand your reach across the web.  It links to Facebook and Twitter,if you want (apparently not everybody wants), so it's an expansion of your social presence.  From the images I have viewed, a couple of which I have included here, these pages are highly tailorable and can be whatever you want to make of them.

I won't hate them anymore.  Maybe.

MySpace launched in August of 2003.  The basic idea was a great idea, and if you know anything about the Internet's social side, you know what I mean  (if not, I'll pardon you while you get back under your rock, because this won't make a bit of difference to you, and I can't possibly write a comprehensive explanation of social media sites here in this blog, in the scope of my topic, and in the time I have). MySpace was bought by NewsCorp in July 2005 for $580 million.  That is a nice chunk, no matter who you are.  At its peak it employed 1600 people and it's usage peaked in December of 2008, at 75.9 million users.  Now that's not too shabby.  However, things haven't been exactly rosy for them in the time since.  MySpace's peak value has been estimated at around $12 billion, but Specific Media got it from NewsCorp in June of 2011 for $35 million! Ugh!! What the heck happened!?  MySpace currently hosts 36 million users and employs about 200.  That is a sad, sad story my friends.  Ironically, Facebook overtook MySpace worldwide in April of 2008, MySpace's peak year.

Google+ is the infant child of Google Inc.  Anything Google does usually turns out pretty well, because they don't give up until they've fine tuned their products.  Now I'm not prejudiced in favor of
Google automatically.  It's just true.  Their wide range of creations is by far the best all around package on the internet, and largely free.  And the free part goes a long way to claiming forgiveness from their users for any shortcomings.  And those shortcomings are always, without fail, addressed. 

Google is catching quite a lot of flack recently over their statistics for Plus.  It seems their definition of "stream" is quite broad, and clicking on the little red bell seen across all Google sites is included.  This has been confirmed by Google.  The issue is whether people are just trying to get rid of it or are actually sharing via Plus.  However, in fairness, competitors like Facebook also define monthly active users rather broadly.  Their figures include users of website widgets, "Like" or "tweet."  So it seems everybody might be padding their figures.  It's actually understandable though, that the current fad is to focus on Google.  Success draws such criticism.

So, skepticism aside, in May, 2013, Plus had 343 million active users.  Today, depending on what you reference, they have anywhere between that and 540 million active users.  I know that's a large margin, but such is the state of the controversy.  It is estimated that it will surpass Facebook in 2016.  Not referencing anything I have read or heard, and strictly as my personal theory, this seems like a solid prediction simply because of the massive and efficient machine that Google has become, and the support the corporation will put behind Plus.  The head of Google Plus, V. Gundotra says, "it's really the unification of all of Google's services with a common social layer", thus evidencing their corporate intentions.  It is actually a little difficult to find any solidly stated figures about Google+ anywhere, as if people are afraid of something.  From some things I have read, there are some impressive technical reasons why Plus will overtake Facebook, to do with rankings and keyword usage, but I surely can't cover all that here.

Coca-Cola collage on Google Plus

Google+ is wide reaching in its aspirations to become an all-in-one social services website, like I was saying above. 
For example, across Google+, Gmail, and Google Drive, you get 15 GB of free storage for your pics.  But, that only applies to photos bigger than 2048x2048, full size uploads.  Any photos you upload smaller than 2048px, or that you let Google+ resize, don't count against your limits. That's a goodly bit.  Although that's across services, it's still more than other storage sites. And that's infinite storage for smaller photos.  No bull.  Infinite.  Does anyone else offer infinite storage?  Nope.
So Google+ is a full  function social site, with all the features that entails; Profile, people, photos, communities, events, hangouts, pages, what's hot, settings, etc.  The layout is similar to Facebook's, but that's to be expected, as it's a simple, logical layout.  But as always with anything titled Google, it's the package that hooks, 

This one picture shows the labeled features of Plus in colored boxes.  You can literally talk to anyone on earth, and in person if you wish.  And with all your other Google services right at your fingertips, you can do whatever needs doing, be it work or pleasure.  I am amazed at how far this service has come in such a short time.  When I was a kid, the only people who could communicate so thoroughly and easily were the Jetsons.

Google+ uses the circle and square format for profile images

You know, I may be beating a dead horse, but I can't imagine a business or enterprising individual paying for services like these when Google gives them away.  With Drive, Docs, Gmail, and Plus, you are just simply covered.
I know this blog was intended as a social services piece, but I just can't seem to justify trying to break the Google services apart.  So there's my point.  Google+ is just one more tool in the Google arsenal, and will undoubtedly only pick up speed as a social force as time moves on.  Undoubtedly.  It's called web assets leverage.

And that brings us to Facebook, perhaps the creme de la creme of social sites today, but hat's today.  Their page layout is simple, yet covers all the aspects of what makes a social site your personal mirror to the internet.  What you place here reflects your image to millions of people across the world through the miracle of electrons flowing through the by-ways of cyberspace.  Of course, that's the case with the other sites I've talked about, but not to the degree of saturation that Facebook expounds.

Facebook continues to amaze with its growth

Self-explanatory facts and figures

When I started this article I honestly was thinking what an unlevel field it was. And yes, it is, but not in Facebook's favor like I was thinking then.  Folks, it's about to be Google Plus's ballgame.  That's just how it's going to be.  Yes, Facebook is cool and all and I have actually come to think of it as fun, whereas I used to think it was a bunch of hookey.  I don't go throwing my detailed information out on these sites and no one should.  Like details of where you'll be and when, and kid's information so you can brag about them and such.  It's too dangerous in the world we're living in.  But I'll leave that for another blog and get back to Facebook.

I added this graph again to stress how Plus is moving in on Facebook's domain

So to get back on point, with Facebook, you're in on their behemoth of a network, with almost as much mystery about their numbers as Google.  One statistic I saw put them at 1 billion users. Really.  Well, maybe.  I honestly couldn't say.  The most seemingly reliable figure I saw places them at around 400 million users globally, a company claim.

Facebook has a simple user interface, and is easy to edit and navigate.  As far as that goes, anyone can log onto their site, build a page in no time, and be off and running.  The service will basically walk you through.  And as with any of these sites, it's up to you to fill it up with what you like.

You have to start somewhere, don't you?

Facebook is about your music and media, and all your interests.  And sharing.

And that brings me to the main point of all social sites.  Sharing.  These sites are communities, and sharing is the center-point of all of them.  The world is now linked indelibly, for better or worse.  And with these sites we all have gained a huge responsibility.  For what content do we want to be known?  For what image and attitude do we wish the world to see as us?

No matter which of these sites is the winner of this unofficial contest to reign supreme as the purveyor of our social avatars (and there are many more than these three, many more), it is ultimately our own personal responsibility to send to the world an image that is worthy of viewing, not some dreamed up, perverted self-image of what is deemed savvy or "cool" for the moment by the media or Hollywood.

The like and dislike symbols have become iconic in today's culture

Google dominates in monthly usage and continues to grow as this territorial was takes shape

A Little Humor With That?

  OK, so we all know Matt has a warped sense of humor.  Right?  He's not the only one. by a long way.  In fact, he's probably in the large majority these days.  After all, we are living in the Grand Age of Cynicism, quite surely.  Is the hilarious irony of Extreme Political Correctness in the Grand Age of Cynicism lost on all but me?  If I concentrate on it long enough, I can bruise my ribs laughing too hard and too long.  Here's what I mean:

  What do you do if you see an epileptic having a seizure in the bathtub?

  Throw in a load of laundry, of course.

 That's not politically correct at all.  I had a friend who said he didn't like my joke about the epileptic in the bathtub because his brother was an epileptic and died in the bathtub.
  "Oh, he drowned!" I said.
  "No, he choked on a sock," said my friend.

  OK, I laughed at that, quite a bit.  Does that make me a bad person?  That's a rhetorical question because I don't really care what you think.
  This blog is about, take a guess, humor.  And there is or isn't, depending on your point of view, a lot to work with.  So, I'm just going to randomly pick one of these sites and talk about it a little.  Here goes.

illwillpress.com

  Ill Will Press - this site is funny, and believe it or not it isn't that cynical at all, surprise, surprise, surprise!  Foamy the Squirrel has some very valid points to make about our medicated society.  He has a real zeal for his message and everyone should tune in to see what he has to say.  Visit him and

his somewhat lethargic friends, and quit taking pills! 

Warning!!
Language and sexual content can be quite explicit!!!
Should be rated 18 and older.

engrish.com
Engrish needs no explanation, after you log-on.  You can spend hours reading these translations,
 for major therapeutic relief of tension of any kind.  My only question is, "Why?"  But then, why ask why?  I guess no one had access to a good dictionary.

            joecartoon.com- uh, is this funny?  I must have a different sense of humor than these people.  I just don't find any of the frog squashing, frog blending stuff funny.  Not sorry.  I can reason that it was intended to be funny.  But they don't need me to validate their stuff.  Their reviews are positive and that's the beauty of the internet; they can attract those who like their work and to hell with everybody else.  So, this is a little more warped of a website, if that's your kind of thing.








cracked.com
Cracked is still, well, Cracked.  There are practically endless videos to watch, which tear down every human institution ever created.  I mean, where else can you find Mr. Rogers breakdancing and Saruman (Lord of the Rings' Christopher Lee) singing heavy metal?  You can here.  And those references are for real.  They're not faked.  Unlike most humor sites, there actually is some information on different things to be had from Cracked. Of course it's with a cracked angle to it.  There are articles, columns, forums, and many other features to keep you occupied until the Earth, well, cracks.                                                                                                                                         

   







ebaumsworld.com
eBaums World has a lot of interesting and very funny material, including vids, pics, and lists, among others.  However, be on your guard!  I was looking at the list titled "30 People Having a Worse Day Than You," and I wanted to download a few pics to share, but the site tried to download multiple files during the process.  I know, I know, no, no, no.  I didn't click any ads or accidentally click a permission.  My anti-virus caught the action quick and let me deny permission.  So, just watch it, because honestly, wouldn't some crazy, half-warped MFers that would build a site like this just be tickled to death to pull some crazy crap on you?  That said, I checked out some of the lists that sounded interesting to me, and yes, hilarious. The Awkward Band Photos hit the mark.  Why didn't somebody tell these guys? Pitiful, but funny.  Actually hilarious.  And there are many, many others.

All of these sites have categories and galleries and most have shops where you can buy brand merchandise, some tailored to your specific taste. 

While writing this blog, I have laughed until I'm sore, which is a good thing.  Laughter is truly very copacetic and cathartic.

Oh yeah.  I almost forgot.
What do you call a man with no arms and no legs at the door?

Matt.

What do you call a man with no arms and no legs on the wall?

Art.

What you call a man with no arms and no legs in the pool?

Bob.

What do you call a man with no arms and no legs by a hole?

Doug.

What do you call a man with no arms and no legs in the hole?

Phil.

What do you call a man with no arms and no legs that you toss around the yard?

Chuck.

What do you call a man with no arms and no legs in the mailbox?

Bill.

And that's quite enough of that.

!Que tengas un buen dia!

"Planet Earth After Google" or "How To Conquer the Known Universe With a Web Browser""

   In 1995, at Stanford University, two young computer science graduate students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, met and soon became friends.  Within a year, they were collaborating on a search engine called BackRub, a research project named for its ability to do back link analysis, as part of the Stanford Digital Library Project.  Their search engine operated on Stanford servers for more than a year, eventually taking up too much bandwidth.

Larry Page, Google Co-Founder & President, Products
Sergey Brin, Google Co-Founder & President, Technology

  Following the rage about BackRub, Page and Brin began working on Google.  The name being a play on the mathematical term googol, a 1 followed by 100 zeros, it was chosen to symbolically represent Page's and Brin's goal to put a "seemingly infinite amount of information on the web," (from Google website).                    Headquartered in their dorm rooms, the pair begged, borrowed, and bought cheap, used PCs to build a server network, maxing out their credit cards in the process buying terabytes of disks at discount prices.  They tried to license their search engine technology, but found no one interested in the early stage project.  So they kept it, sought more development financing, improved their product, and took it to the public themselves.  That course worked well, and with more development Google became hotly sought after.  One early investor, Andy Bechtolsheim, co-founder of Sun Microsystems, is quoted saying, "Instead of us discussing all the details, why don't I just write you a check?", after a quick preview of Google.  His check for $100,000 was made to Google Inc., however, and as a legal entity Google Inc. didn't exist.  Page and Brin incorporated within two weeks. cashed Bechtolsheim's check, and raised another $900,000 in additional start-up funding.
  In September, 1998, Google Inc. opened in Menlo Park, California, and Google.com, a beta search engine, started answering 10,000 search queries each day.
  On September 21, 1999, Google officially removed "beta" from its title.

 














  Perhaps in their wildest dreams young Larry Page and Sergey Brin did hope for their creation to impact the entire planet in a profound way.  Perhaps they did intend to change the way that the human species gleans knowledge from the collective database of the ages.  But today, quite after the fact, it is probably safe to say that even they had no clue how far reaching the impact of Google would be.  And far reaching it is, even finding its way into the English lexicon as a popular verb, to google.  From those somewhat humble beginnings as a graduate school project called BackRub, and then a search engine with the domain google.stanford.edu serving 10,000 requests a day, into the communication behemoth it is today,  Google has grown into what could arguably be called the backbone of the internet.

The first Google computer at Stanford   

  By their very nature, statistics for web browsers and search engines are very difficult to calculate.  At its peak in
early 2004, Google handled upwards of 84.7% of all search requests on the World Wide Web, through its website and through its partnerships with other Internet clients like Yahoo!, AOL, and CNN.  Yahoo! dropped its partnership in February of that year.  In June 2013, Google carried 42.68% of internet traffic usage share, as compared to 25.44% for Internet Explorer and 20.01% for Firefox, according to Wikipedia.  These statistics are hotly debated and contested, but probably do represent a close ballpark figure.   One verifiable figure that could be argued to demonstrate Google's dominance of the market is the announcement in September that Android had passed 1 billion device activations.  As society continues to shift into a wireless, mobile place, this is very significant in that Android is an open standards platform, and Google is a founding member of the Open Handset Alliance.  These open standards movements are very significant in our time, as some, including myself, feel strongly that we, as diverse cultures, as a species, are on the cusp of a major upheaval in world society.  There seems to be a sense about this fact in different circles, with the general masses kept as ignorant as possible with their work-a-day lives and basic efforts of survival, while world powers grow restless at trying to curb the freedom of information that has emerged with the growth of the Internet.  In the United States, we have been somewhat insulated from this occurrence by our relatively high standard of living, but as the rest of the world seeks to attain western culture for themselves, those powers behind the power are driven to panic in an effort to retain control for themselves.

All of this aforementioned situation might not seem to relate directly to the growth of Google at first, because as such things go, it could have been some other company that emerged at the forefront of web search technology at the dawn of the millennium.  But it was Google that emerged from underdog status to take the lead at the helm of internet search.  And thus it was Google and the vision of its founders that prevailed.  Namely, "Don't be evil,"  a phrase which they went so far as to include in their prospectus for their 2004 IPO, noting that "We believe strongly that in the long term, we will be better served-as shareholders and in all other ways-by a company that does good things for the world even if we forgo some short term gains."  And Google has grown into the all encompassing machine that masses of individuals and groups have come to love; docs, drive, gmail, YouTube, etc., etc...........

  It might be easy to snurl one's nose at such a sugary statement from a corporate giant, in our age of cynicism, if not for knowledge in hindsight that they have kept their word.
  Undoubtedly Google has made its founders very rich (Brin and Page are of course not the only ones, but to keep my article manageable I did not go into that angle of things), but true to their vision they have given back much; Google Grants, the Google Anita Borg Scholarship, Google Scholar, google.org, Apps for Education, Bold Internship, Google Serve, Google Ventures, Google Crisis Response, Transparency Report, Renewable Energy Efforts, Google Art Project, Google Science Fair, Global Impact Awards, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory funding, Calico.  As you see, one could write a tome on Google's efforts to improve society. 

  This is the intro to the summary of government requests from Google's Transparency Website:

Like other technology and communications companies, Google regularly receives requests from government agencies and courts around the world to remove content from our services or to review such content to determine if it should be removed for inconsistency with a product's community policies. In this report, we disclose the number of requests we receive from each government in six-month periods with certain limitations.

Governments ask companies to remove or review content for many different reasons. For example, some content removals are requested due to allegations of defamation, while others are due to allegations that the content violates local laws prohibiting hate speech or adult content. Laws surrounding these issues vary by country, and the requests reflect the legal context of a given jurisdiction. We hope this tool will be helpful in discussions about the appropriate scope and authority of government requests.

  Perhaps we are all the more fortunate that Google has been thrust into this position, because the key word is "good."  Take the transparency issues.  What if Google's principles had been more in line with strict profit orientation like many companies have been exposed to be in recent times?  Google led the way in transparency about government censorship, and then partnered with others in 2012 to urge protest of proposals SOPA and PIPA, in the US, wich would have censored and impeded innovation on the internet, leading to abandonment of the bills.

  A point of view which perhaps sums up this look at Google, and its influence on our lives as Internet users, comes from one journalist blogging after the 15th anniversary:
 

Last weekend Google celebrated its 15th birthday. As a search engine, Google’s only a teenager (I feel like assigning her the female gender, so let’s go with it) and it’s easy for most of us to forget how young Google really is. She can’t even drive, but she gives people directions. She’s fast, sophisticated, and constantly changing. Despite her youth, we as a society have placed a lot of trust into her because, well, she improves our lives and does a lot of good.

 

However, as Google turns 15 and charges ahead with more advanced features, innovations, and products, it’s also important to step back and fully evaluate Google’s role in our lives. Not that Google’s not awesome - just that her influence is fairly large and powerful, and any company that grows as large as Google just needs an eye kept on it.

  In 2011, Larry Page once again became CEO of Google, 10 years after he last held the title.  And we should feel confident that he will lead the company to many more positive victories in the quest to do good for the world and ensure that the web is open to us all.  After all, Google is his baby.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

  Google's got the whole world in it's hands.  And they call it Google Earth.  Practically gone are the days of gas station maps and asking for directions.  If civilization endures and the generations come and go as they always have, paper map printing will be a novelty and paper maps will become strictly collectibles.  Shoot, paper may become collectible.

Now that's a control panel and the layers are super detailed

  The only thing that doesn't change is that every-

thing changes.  I feel like a well qualified late neo

historian myself.  Practically born in the cave-man 

era, and now smack in the middle of all this high-

technology.  And I'm lovin' every minute of it.

  I have to confess that for some reason I was re-

sistant toward Google Earth.  I had predetermined

that I couldn't use it.  I was giving myself head-

aches with it.  So this evening I back-tracked a 

bit and undercut whatever study-bug I had caught.

I reviewed the tutorials and help files and it finally 

clicked.  It's just another package of software 

tools arranged to perform certain functions through hardware.  In this case mapping.  And we've got the whole world in our hands.

  This little project Matt set us to wasn't so difficult after I played around with Earth for awhile.  There was actually more than one way to skin the cat.  I finally just opted for a very simple approach, mainly because I am worn slap out and just need to get done.  But with an investment of some time any project can be down right extravagant.  There are enough bells and whistles on the free program to pull off some amazing stuff.

  When this assignment was given, my thoughts immediately went to some away time I took with my young family another lifetime ago,  when my then wife and I had just decided that we did not want to drive a long trip to get away.  So we stayed in-state, and wandered north into the bigger hills.  A lot of people do not realize that there are some very nice National Parks and Forests in West Virginia and some of the most stunning natural beauty and amazing sights that can be found anywhere. 

  So, if I can get this KML file to do what I need it to do, I'll have a tour of some of the places that I'm talking about posted here.  A simple, basic tour, but enough to give a person the basic ideas of what's just up the road.

https://sites.google.com/site/lifessphere/sphere-0/Places%20of%20Interest%20in%20West%20Virginia.kml?attredirects=0&d=1