Electric Car Advantage number 67

#67 - You'll never forget where you parked.

Good Idea Gone Rotten

President Obama lies to a strand of DNA

It was a personal-robot-moment when I heard DNA tests could be done for as little as $99.00. How cool is that? Remember when the Jetsons promised us hovercars and personal robots, but they never happened? Well cheap genetic testing was a promise like that; but it came true:

Since late 2007, 23andMe has been known for offering cut-rate genetic testing. Spit in a vial, send it in, and the company will look at thousands of regions in your DNA that are known to vary from human to human—and which are responsible for some of our traits.

Wouldn't it be cool to point at a string of the letters G A T C and say that's why you can smell asparagus in your urine? Well, to me it would be. Also, I supposedly have idiopathic cardiomyopathy but there might be a genetic marker for it that I can point to, thereby making it not idiopathic anymore. (and I'm tired of my cardiologist seeming to hint that I'm an idiot)

But wait. Turns out that the company whose long abandoned mission statement of "don't be evil" might be behind 23andMe:

Consider the case of Google. (One of the founders of 23andMe, Anne Wojcicki, is presently married to Sergei Brin, the founder of Google.) When it first launched, Google billed itself as a faithful servant of the consumer, a company devoted only to building the best tool to help us satisfy our cravings for information on the web. And Google’s search engine did just that. But as we now know, the fundamental purpose of the company wasn’t to help us search, but to hoard information. Every search query entered into its computers is stored indefinitely. Joined with information gleaned from cookies that Google plants in our browsers, along with personally identifiable data that dribbles from our computer hardware and from our networks, and with the amazing volumes of information that we always seem willing to share with perfect strangers—even corporate ones—that data store has become Google’s real asset. By parceling out that information to help advertisers target you, with or without your consent, Google makes more than $10 billion every quarter.

What the search engine is to Google, the Personal Genome Service is to 23andMe. The company is not exactly hiding its ambitions. “The long game here is not to make money selling kits, although the kits are essential to get the base level data,” Patrick Chung, a 23andMe board member, told FastCompany last month. “Once you have the data, [the company] does actually become the Google of personalized health care.”

 Read the article. It really is a let down when you realize that the same guys who stole your wifi information are interested in getting the blueprints to your very being.

It's like the first microwave oven has been invented but there's only one catch: You have to buy it from Hitler. What a letdown.

I wonder though if there might be a way around Big Brother. Would it be possible to pay with bitcoins, use a pseudonym, and have results sent to a single-purpose throwaway mailbox hosted by Microsoft? (that you only accessed by way of coffee shop wifi) It's a thought.

My fake surname would be Wojcicki but it may take me awhile to pick a first name. Maybe Thaddeus, Flash, Marvelous, or Dweezil. (good news, the price will probably drop 50% before I decide)

Anyway, read before you buy.

What Luck

It's obvious the diver wasn't expecting to find anyone alive. Makes you wonder how many times capsized sailors survive for a few days before succumbing.

Best bit: the guy topside telling the diver to "keep him there." Just like a boss to ruin their plans of swimming off into the deep.

The Roof, The Roof, The Roof is on Fire

President Obama is out golfing one day. On the 3rd hole Jay Carney sends him a text saying ‘Bo is dead’. Distraught at the death of his beloved pet Obama returns to the White House and berates  Carney for being so callous.

 ‘You should break bad news gently,’ says Obama, ‘If I’d been telling you that your dog was dead I’d have texted, “The dog’s on the roof and can’t get down.”

A few hours later I’d have written, “The dog’s fallen off the roof and is badly hurt.”

A while later I would have sent another message saying, “The dog has sadly passed away.”’

‘Very good, sir,’ says the Carney, ‘I’ll remember that in the future.’

'Good,' says Obama, 'I'm going to go finish my round then, but before I go, has there been any word on the Obamacare website fix?'

'Oh, yes, about the website,' says Carney, ‘Um sir, the website is on the roof and can’t get down.’

 old joke adapted by a man with an ax

Fake Openness to Change

Remember the last time he asked for input from Republicans on Obamacare? He scheduled a half day "summit" in response to Republican complaints. It was just days before they rammed the ACA through, and it changed nothing in the law. Not one word.

 President 404

Typo

found

Have a Hug

Sent to me by lumberbrudi, a hug-fest!

I hear ya, "But you're a bristly flannel covered lumberjack. You believe hugs belong in the realm of PBS news rooms and gay pride parades. You never hug anything but bacon and firearms." Good point, but some of the women at the link are pretty enough to cause a brief suspension of the usual hug policy.

Take Your Daughters Fishing

An example of why it's important to get the "first-fish excitement" over with when they're young. 

Political Correctness

James Taranto notices things:

• "This is the last Slate article that will refer to the Washington NFL team as the Redskins. . . . Changing the way we talk is not political correctness run amok. It reflects an admirable willingness to acknowledge others who once were barely visible to the dominant culture, and to recognize that something that may seem innocent to you may be painful to others. . . . So while the name Redskins is only a bit offensive, it's extremely tacky and dated--like an old aunt who still talks about 'colored people' or limps her wrist to suggest someone's gay."--David Plotz, Slate.com, Aug. 8
• "Colorado Gun Rights Activists Claim Another Scalp"--headline, Slate.com, Nov. 27

Science Toys

Cool, and probably something you would get tired of playing with after the first week. But I can see this being a practical tool after much refinement. I mean, this would be much cooler if the resolution was upped by a factor of 100. Then, add brighter colors and the ability to play audio and you'd really have something to amuse your cat with. (and face it, isn't that the direction almost all new inventions migrate? towards becoming very expensive cat toys?)

Don't get me wrong. I still want one.