Post 24:
Based on the current polling, it looks like Obama has gained ground in Indiana, New Mexico, and Michigan. However, McCain has countered this by pulling Virginia, Missouri, and Nevada to his side. This means, that for the first time in my collection of data, there is no neutral state. Ohio is still holding for Obama, though it is arguably a statistical tie. In the end though, Obama has gained 5 electoral votes in the last week.
*END OF UPDATE*
Today I took Melissa up to her second week at Stone Lab for classes. On the way, I got lost and ended up in Toledo (which, I decided is a much prettier city than Columbus (Lisa, be happy with that)). Even though I am a guy, I decided to go into a gas station for help and directions, and, they got me going the right way. Now, some of you are sitting out there trying to figure out exactly why I did not use my built-in state of the art GPS system (with ON*STAR survice, of course). The thing is, I do not have a GPS system in my car, nor do I have the one on my phone activated; frankly, I want it to stay that way. Having a GPS system is a bad idea, in my mind, as there are some very large problems with it: In this age of surveillance, why should we make it any easier - The more that we use GPS, the more satellites will be in space - Insurance Reasons. Really, all forms of tracking devices scare me, and the GPS based system of Garmin and others?? scare me just as much. GPS: What Really Grinds My Gigantic Notched Wheels.
In this age of surveillance, why should we make it any easier:
If a parent wants to track their lying children, they can. If a spouse wishes to catch a cheater, they can. If the government wants to find you (for whatever reason), it can. If businesses want to market to people who travel only only I-75, they can. All of these possibilities, and many many more, are possible due to the beauty of the GPS systems. While it is nice to be able to track yourself around the country, and to get directions in a heart beat (because, you know, we can not read maps), it is also a huge danger. With certain policies in place, the government already can check your library check outs, your web searches (except via Google, FOR NOW), and tap your phone. Why should we make it easier for them to track you, even if you have done nothing wrong. For this reason alone, I will remove any GPS system that comes with my car (or, just not get one with a GPS system). Car makers and Phone makers beware, if you keep adding GPS to everything, with no options to remove, the people will probably start to not buy it.
The more that we use GPS, the more satellites will be in space:
Space is polluted; it is filled with hundreds upon hundreds of man-made object, as well as thousands of natural celestial objects. GPS is based off of satellites (though, it could be based off of ground-based systems) and thus adds to this pollution. I am a big fan of space travel and research, but, the problem is, in time we will have a problem with this pollution. Why should we add to it now? Furthermore, the systems based in space are not that accurate. The signals can be bounced off of mountains, hills, buildings, or even other cars. Furthermore, even going through the atmosphere can throw the signal off. Frankly, until GPS is ground-based (which, the cell phone version might be), it is not worth the hassle.
Insurance Reasons:
This issue is very simple actually. Cars already have a version of a black box in them; a device that tracks your speed, when there was a collision, and the like. This data could be used against you in an insurance case. Why should we give people more tactics to use against you. We all speed, that is known, but when it is only an alleged speeding compared to hard data (GPS gives you the exact speed, +- the distortion effects). As a young gentleman, I wish for my driving secrets to be, well, secret.
As always, please leave any comments, no matter how large or how small about the contents of this blog post. Also, please leave any comments/suggestions about this site/post as a whole.
Thanks,
Barga,
Editor of http://whalertly.blogspot.com/
barga.24@osu.edu
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4 comments:
your point?
Are you going to put up with this..?
About the actual post:
Good points. Thanks for reminding me not to get a cellphone with GPS. ;D
What else can i do about it?
They do not bother me that much
The thing is, there are very few phones without GPS in them. Even less you can turn off now. And, with the ones on an internet plan, it is no better as they can triangulate you via hotspots
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