The interstate highway system was completed in 1992 after many years of construction at a cost of nearly $300 billion dollars in today’s money. The companies pushing for AI to be a big part of our lives are investing in data centers, software, and other infrastructures. The projected cost is estimated to be nearly $1 trillion dollars in the next 3-5 years. That is at least 3x the cost of the interstate highway system. Kind of puts that investment into perspective. It is a lot of money. (fyi…the AI ChatGPT was used to gather those numbers)
Technology
stratospheric balloon over iowa
More about high altitude balloons.
I enjoy checking the air traffic over our area using a site called ADS-B Exchange. Their zoomable map shows all the flights anywhere in the world. We live under the flight paths of many planes crossing the country. That is why we are sometimes called a flyover state. Their map includes the smallest one-runway airstrips scattered around the country which support a lot of single engine planes. We also can watch the helicopter traffic over us carrying patients to the University of Iowa Hospital for care. By clicking on an aircraft symbol, it brings up windows with flight details about the aircraft, how high, direction, speed, etc.
Today, I noticed something unusual on the map. It was not a symbol showing an airplane or helicopter. It was a symbol shaped like a hot air balloon. I’ve seen that symbol only one time before on the map. The info window…
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Algorithms Set Your Online World
An online link attracts you to something on YouTube. It looks interesting so you click the link. Soon the sidebar has other video suggestions for you to watch that seem related to this and other videos you’ve watched before. How are they chosen? Is someone else going to make money on your choices? Is some group trying to sway your emotional or political opinions?
Smarter Every Day explores the algorithms used to make those choices and other content in the 3 large social media platforms of YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook. This 20 minute video is part 1 of 3. I think you will find it very interesting and maybe surprising.
DNA Testing | Are You Interested?
Have you considered doing a DNA test? We both had our DNA tested in 2014 by 23andMe. The 23andMe results were interesting. We have thorough genealogy records for most of our family lines going back many generations. We knew what to expect from our DNA results.
My last name is derived from a variation of Raudenbusch near Stuttgart Germany. They came to Philadelphia in 1732 according to the ship manifest. The name was changed after a generation to avoid confusion with other Raudenbusch families who lived nearby. The French & German part of the chart below from 23andMe confirms that information.
They married into family lines that were British & Irish, my most recent ancestors in the timeline chart. The results also showed distant generations from Africa making up a very small part of my DNA. My records show distant relatives on my mother’s side from South Carolina who owned slaves in the late 1700s. The genetic link from 23andMe isn’t a surprise.
Viewed From Above | From Below
From Above…
A 100 meter telecommunications tower stands near my home. I looked at it from above via Google Earth. The shadow extends to the left. The support cables barely show on a good monitor but not in this small image. A car is rounding the curve at the upper left.
How I See It 