A waste of taxpayer dollars

My son forwarded me this link. The only thing I can say is that SHAME ON THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT for failing to educate their agents. This is typical of government officials, more specifically of overreaction and waste of taxpayer dollars.

A long time Gadgeteer reader contacted me today through Google Hangouts to tell me that he had a story that he thought I’d be interested in reading. He then forwarded me a long email with a story from a very good friend of his. It was such a surprising story that I asked if I could have permission to post it here on The Gadgeteer. I ended up communicating with the author of the story and have posted it here for everyone to read…

I have been using Google Glass for about 2 months now, and about 2 weeks ago I got prescription lenses for the glasses. So in the past two weeks I was wearing Google Glass all the time. There were no stories to write about, until yesterday (1/18/2014).

I went to AMC (Easton Mall, Columbus, OH) to watch a movie with my wife (non- Google Glass user). It is the theater we go to every week, so it has probably been the third time I’ve been there wearing Google Glass, and the AMC employees (guy tearing tickets at the entrance, girl at the concession stand) have asked me about Glass in the past and I have told them how awesome Glass is with every occasion.

Because I don’t want Glass to distract me during the movie, I turn them off (but since my prescription lenses are on the frame, I still wear them). About an hour into the movie (Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit), a guy comes near my seat, shoves a badge that had some sort of a shield on it, yanks the Google Glass off my face and says “follow me outside immediately”. It was quite embarrassing and outside of the theater there were about 5-10 cops and mall cops. Since I didn’t catch his name in the dark of the theater, I asked to see his badge again and I asked what was the problem and I asked for my Glass back. The response was “you see all these cops you know we are legit, we are with the ‘federal service’ and you have been caught illegally taping the movie”.

I was surprised by this and as I was obviously just having a nice Saturday evening night out with my wife and not taping anything whether legally or illegally, I tried to explain that this is a misunderstanding. I tried to explain that he’s holding rather expensive hardware that costed me $1500 for Google Glass and over $600 for the prescription glasses. The response was that I was searched and more stuff was taken away from me (specifically my personal phone, my work phone – both of which were turned off, and my wallet). After an embarrassing 20-30 minutes outside the movie theater, me and my wife were conducted into two separate rooms in the “management” office of Easton Mall, where the guy with the badge introduced himself again and showed me a different ID. His partner introduced herself too and showed me a similar looking badge. I was by that time, too flustered to remember their names (as a matter of fact, now, over 30 hours later I am still shaking when recounting the facts).

What followed was over an hour of the “feds” telling me I am not under arrest, and that this is a “voluntary interview”, but if I choose not to cooperate bad things may happen to me (is it legal for authorities to threaten people like that?). I kept telling them that Glass has a USB port and not only did I allow them, I actually insist they connect to it and see that there was nothing but personal photos with my wife and my dog on it. I also insisted they look at my phone too and clear things out, but they wanted to talk first. They wanted to know who I am, where I live, where I work, how much I’m making, how many computers I have at home, why am I recording the movie, who am I going to give the recording to, why don’t I just give up the guy up the chain, ’cause they are not interested in me. Over and over and over again.

I kept telling them that I wasn’t recording anything – my Glass was off, they insisted they saw it on. I told them there would be a light coming out the little screen if Glass was on, and I could show them that, but they insisted that I cannot touch my Glass for the fear “I will erase the evidence against me that was on Glass”. I didn’t have the intuition to tell them that Glass gets really warm if it records for more than a few minutes and my glasses were not warm. They wanted to know where I got Glass and how did I came by having it. I told them I applied about 1000 times to get in the explorer program, and eventually I was selected, and I got the Glass from Google. I offered to show them receipt and Google Glass website if they would allow me to access any computer with internet. Of course, that was not an option. Then they wanted to know what does Google ask of me in exchange for Glass, how much is Google paying me, who is my boss and why am I recording the movie.

Eventually, after a long time somebody came with a laptop and an USB cable at which point he told me it was my last chance to come clean. I repeated for the hundredth time there is nothing to come clean about and this is a big misunderstanding so the FBI guy finally connected my Glass to the computer, downloaded all my personal photos and started going though them one by one (although they are dated and it was obvious there was nothing on my Glass that was from the time period they accused me of recording). Then they went through my phone, and 5 minutes later they concluded I had done nothing wrong.

I asked why didn’t they just take those five minutes at the beginning of the interrogation and they just left the room. A guy who claimed his name is Bob Hope (he gave me his business card) came in the room, and said he was with the Movie Association and they have problems with piracy at that specific theater and that specific movie. He gave me two free movie passes “so I can see the movie again”. I asked if they thought my Google Glass was such a big piracy machine, why didn’t they ask me not to wear them in the theater? I would have probably sat five or six rows closer to the screen (as I didn’t have any other pair of prescription glasses with me) and none of this would have happened. All he said was AMC called him, and he called the FBI and “here are two more passes for my troubles”. I would have been fine with “I’m sorry this happened, please accept our apologies”. Four free passes just infuriated me.

Considering it was 11:27pm when this happened, and the movie started at 7.45, I guess 3 and a half hours of my time and the scare my wife went through (who didn’t know what was going on as nobody bothered to tell her) is worth about 30 bucks in the eyes of the Movie Association and the federal militia (sorry, I cannot think of other derogatory words). I think I should sue them for this, but I don’t have the time or the energy to deal with “who is my boss – they don’t want me, they want the big guy” again, so I just spilled the beans on this forum, for other to learn from my experience.

I guess until people get more familiar with Google Glass and understand what they are, one should not wear them to the movies. I wish they would have said something before I went to the movies, but it may be my mistake for assuming that if I went and watched movies two times wearing Glass with no incident the third time there won’t be any incident either. As for the federal agents and their level of comprehension… I guess if they deal with petty criminals every day, everybody starts looking like a petty criminal. Again, I wish they would have listened when I told them how to verify I did nothing illegal, or at least apologize afterwards, but hey… this is the free country everybody praises. Somewhere else might be even worse.

Crazy huh? His story read like something out of the Jack Ryan movie that he and his wife had gone to see. Are there any other Google Glass users out there that have been treated badly just for your wearable tech? If not, are you reconsidering wearing a pair to the next movie you attend?

Update (01/21/14):

Wow, this article has completely blown up our web server due to the traffic. I just wanted to follow up with a few comments and info. First of all, I’m not a journalist, I’m a tech geek writer. Posting this article has given me a good learning lesson though, which I’ll use if I ever post a similar article in the future.

I have been criticized for not citing my sources and following up with the theater to verify that the story was true. I didn’t feel the need at the time because the person who gave me the story is a long time Gadgeteer reader and works in law enforcement. I felt 100% confident the story was not a hoax. I did however call the theater in question and tried to get in touch with someone there for a comment. My calls went unanswered.

After the article was posted. Rob Jackson of Phandroid posted his take on the article and asked me for the author’s contact info. With the author’s permission, I forwarded that info and Rob followed up with some questions and answers that he posted on his site. Take a look for more info on this story:

http://phandroid.com/2014/01/20/fbi-google-glass-movie/

Update #2:

I just received info from the author with regards to the agents that questioned him:

For the sake of having all the facts right.
I have been trying to find out who the agents that “interviewed” me at
AMC were, so I asked help from a guy I know at FBI. I worked with this
guy in the past when I was employed at a webhosting company. He did
some digging, and he tells me the “federal agents”
talking to me were DHS.

Update #3:

The title of the article has been changed to reflect the recent update from the author that it was actually the DHS (Department of Homeland Security) who detained him and not the FBI as he originally thought.

Other articles that you will enjoy:

• OpticsPlanet opens up the world of Google Glass to those of us without perfect vision

Terrorist

I do not understand some news reports that are currently running. Killing innocent people is condemed by all faith practices. The news reported 21 people were killed in Kabul while eating their meals at a resterant. I have a question.What food product threatens the Taliban so much? Their own Quran has a lot to say about harming the innocent.


Quran  2(178-179):   O you who have believed, prescribed for you is legal retribution for those murdered - the free for the free, the slave for the slave, and the female for the female. But whoever overlooks from his brother anything, then there should be a suitable follow-up and payment to him with good conduct. This is an alleviation from your Lord and a mercy. But whoever transgresses after that will have a painful punishment. And there is for you in legal retribution [saving of] life, O you [people] of understanding, that you may become righteous.


Quran  2(190-193): Fight in the way of Allah those who fight you but do not transgress. Indeed, Allah does not like transgressors. And kill them wherever you overtake them and expel them from wherever they have expelled you, and fitnah is worse than killing. And do not fight them at al-Masjid al- Haram until they fight you there. But if they fight you, then kill them. Such is the recompense of the disbelievers. And if they cease, then indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful. Fight them until there is no [more] fitnah and [until] worship is [acknowledged to be] for Allah . But if they cease, then there is to be no aggression except against the oppressors.

The Muslim faith calls the person who is a leader in their faith "Imam." I was taught by friends that the predominate theme of the Quran is forgiveness and peace. Their own holy book says what happens to those who lead falsely. Unfortunately the Muslim faith is not the only one with this problem. Look at what happened at Waco,Texas. Demons affect the leaders of all faiths. 

Below are some quotes from the Quran which remind a Muslim of the perils of listening to the demons, be they man or spiritual. 


Quran (17:72): And whoever is blind in this [life] will be blind in the Hereafter and more astray in way

Quran (44:43-44): Indeed the tree of zaqqum is food for the sinful. 

Quran 2(178-179):  O you who have believed, prescribed for you is legal retribution for those murdered - the free for the free, the slave for the slave, and the female for the female. But whoever overlooks from his brother anything, then there should be a suitable follow-up and payment to him with good conduct. This is an alleviation from your Lord and a mercy. But whoever transgresses after that will have a painful punishment. And there is for you in legal retribution [saving of] life, O you [people] of understanding, that you may become righteous.


This doesn't release them from guilt and punishment. It only compounds the demon's punishment for leading their flock astray on judgement day. I call them demon because only a demon orders the death of people because it pleases the demon. On the same train of thought, only a psychotic demon claims he acted on the will of God. Demons destroy the economy of the poor in order to feel powerful and feed off of fear.

Mental illness is no respecter of gender,faith, or nationality. Demons can pop up anywhere in the world. Looking at Imams who stray,they has both mental illness and demonic possession.They need to be tranquilized with a strong anti-psychotic medicine until  they drool and be kept that way. Until the demon leave the bodies of these Imams , they need special treatment. They need to be daily scrubbed clean in holy water.They should be made to drink a glass of holy water a day or receive it through a tube in their nose to their stomach. Keeping them restrained, they should hear a true Imam's reading of the Koran that hasn't been perverted played sixteen hours a day. Hopefully by the end of their natural life, they will have had seen the errors of their ways. Of course,they must receive medical care and be on suicide watch to make sure they can't miss a day of their special care. In the words from their religion, perhaps this will prevent them from supping on the fruits of Zaqqum in Jahannam.

A final reminder of my stance on this, from the Muslim's holy book: 

Quran 2 (190-193) :  Fight in the way of Allah those who fight you but do not transgress. Indeed, Allah does not like transgressors. And kill them wherever you overtake them and expel them from wherever they have expelled you, and fitnah is worse than killing. And do not fight them at al-Masjid al- Haram until they fight you there. But if they fight you, then kill them. Such is the recompense of the disbelievers. And if they cease, then indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful. Fight them until there is no [more] fitnah and [until] worship is [acknowledged to be] for Allah . But if they cease, then there is to be no aggression except against the oppressors.

Does God look down from Heaven with Sorrow?

Christians and Muslims both believe in God. For the Christians, it means to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, who they believe is the son of God. The Islamic faith is about making one's faith practice God's alone. Simply put, faith is "what matters". This faith gives each the desire and willingness to follow God's teachings.

The Christian faith has it's leaders. They can come from structured training, like the Baptist or Catholic denomination. There are some who do it on an apprentice level. There are those who feel the hand of God and start teaching others. The Muslim faith has it's leaders. This person is educated in Islamic law and holds the leadership position. Called "Imam", this person's primary purpose from what I understand is religious guidance.

I do not under the "Taliban". This word comes from the Iranian dialect called Pashto. In this dialect, it is spoken in Afghanistan and western Pakistan. Translated, it means "Students."

Students of..what? Education is the basis of faith. With education comes the desire to follow the laws of God and man. To deny women education is to deny them the presence of God, and his punishment for that is Harsh. All they have to do is to read God's word to understand. A woman's educations threatens nobody save an ignorant man. With education comes a surprising ability to problem solve. She can manage her household better and help out her husband. To be a help 'fit' for him. So what does the 'Taliban' do in light of all this?

They shot a 12 year old girl in the head in 2012. What was her crime? Why..it was the crime of trying to advance women's education. Someone tell me how a 12 year old girl can threaten grown men?

Final topic I wanna discuss: suicide bombers. That term is a term to hide an ugly evil. This evil is wrapped up in the guise of a cowardly killer. This coward slips up on people doing their job. The 'Taliban' can twist it's head, nose or ass. They are advocating evil.

God does not reward evil, regardless of the faith. Perhaps they need to sit in educational classes. I respect their fear of women. They can have educational classes for boys and men only. The killing of innocents has to stop..for when they stand before God, the lies fall away. What's left to be judged is pure evil.

Ignorance, primarily about HIV and AIDS

Craig Lamar Davis, self-proclaimed Pastor at Full Gospel Baptist Church (although Bishop Morton, Bishop of Administration at Full Gospel Baptist Church, contests this claim) was arrested recently for having sex with two women without disclosing his HIV status. He denies having HIV while taking prescription drugs usually given to those diagnosed with HIV.

While watching the 5:00 PM news, I saw an excerpt from Channel 2 Action News about the trial. His female defense lawyer stated that he was in trouble due to "the myth Oprah spread about 'down low' men spreading HIV/AIDS" Besides the fact that she is grasping for straws, I have to wonder if she even knows about HIV and AIDS and how it is spread. Maybe she should take classes in subjects before she uses them in her defense, willingly spreading ignorance.

Suicide Bombers

Over the last several months, I've noticed Muslim suicide bombers are still causing death and destruction. It doesn't make sense to me, these bombings. 

Doing some research, I've found some omitted truths: 

• The predominant theme of the Qu'ran is forgiveness and peace. 
• Suicide is forbidden. Mohammad forbade (meaning DO NOT DO IT) causing harm (or pain,mutilation or death) to the innocent during war.

Some references in the Qu'ran regarding such: 

Qu'ran 2: 176-179: Believers! Retribution is prescribed for you in cases of killing:¹⁷⁶ if a freeman is guilty then the freeman; if a slave is guilty then the slave; if a female is guilty, then the female.¹⁷⁷ But if something of a murderer’s guilt is remitted by his brother¹⁷⁸ this should be adhered to in fairness,¹⁷⁹and payment be made in a goodly manner. This is an alleviation and a mercy from your Lord; and for him who commits excess after that¹⁸⁰ there is a painful chastisement.

Qu'ran 5: 8: O you who have believed, be persistently standing firm for Allah , witnesses in justice, and do not let the hatred of a people prevent you from being just. Be just; that is nearer to righteousness. And fear Allah ; indeed, Allah is Acquainted with what you do.

Qu'ran 2: 190-193: Fight in the way of Allah those who fight you but do not transgress. Indeed. Allah does not like transgressors. And kill them wherever you overtake them and expel them from wherever they have expelled you, and fitnah is worse than killing. And do not fight them at al-Masjid al- Haram until they fight you there. But if they fight you, then kill them. Such is the recompense of the disbelievers. And if they cease, then indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful. Fight them until there is no [more] fitnah and [until] worship is [acknowledged to be] for Allah . But if they cease, then there is to be no aggression except against the oppressors.

Qu'ran 22: 40: [They are] those who have been evicted from their homes without right - only because they say, "Our Lord is Allah." And were it not that Allah checks the people, some by means of others, there would have been demolished monasteries, churches, synagogues, and mosques in which the name of Allah is much mentioned. And Allah will surely support those who support Him. Indeed, Allah is Powerful and Exalted in Might.

Roughly translated, from how I read it: 

1) It says that an enitre population is not to suffer or die in an attempt to right a wrong.

2) Cautions one not to turn from justice because hatred makes one do wrong.

3) I read it that the peaceful or indifferent non-Muslims are not to be harmed. 

4) I read it as one who has a right to fight. HENCE THE COWARDS TO FORCE ADULTS AND ESPECIALLY CHILDREN TO BE SUICIDE BOMBERS NEED TO REMEMBER A FEW VERSES FROM THE QU'RAN!

The versus about what awaits one in hell: 

44: 43       Verily the tree of Zaqqum

      44       Will be the food of the Sinful

      45        Like molten brass; it will boil in their insides

       46        Like the boiling of scalding water.

Said tree has fruit shaped like the head of devils. Eating said fruit causes the belly of the sinner to churn like he drank hot oil. 

S.W.A.G.?

Today I got an eyeful of several groups of young men (I.E.: No woman with them) walking around with their pants two inches below their buttcheeks, dirty underwear showing, and one hand holding their pants up over their penis. All I heard them say was "Look! I got swag!" I went to the internet and looked up two definitions of swag. Sadly, it was as I thought when I looked it up.

Final thought: Jani McMath

Alright. Although the fact that Jahi McMath was in very bad shape during her transfer, I am glad her family was able to transfer her. Should God answer the family's prayers, the perfect response would be for her to be wheeled first to the CEO of the Hospital which tried to disconnect her from life support, then to the office of the lawyer who gave the horrid interview holding a placard. On the placard should be the questions in bold: Why did you want to pull me off life support? Was it because you had decided my life wasn't worth saving?

Addendum

Addendum to the prior blogspot: I know the family was able to move the girl. This pleases me. The best ending would be for her to recover, go to the lawyer's office which gave that ghastly television interview and ask one question: "Why"

A child declared braindead

I was absent from blogging for a long time. With a serious illness keeping me on the sidelines, I really didn't think much about the blog. My apologies for those who read my other one. Now that I'm on the slow road to recovery, I'm back sitting on my front porch.

It saddened me listening to the lawyer for the hospital where Jani McMath is on life support get on his soapbox. This lawyer let ooze from his mouth words that hurt. His education should have endowed him with a little knowledge about the grief and grieving process. That process does not fit a timeline. It also doesn't follow any bean counters rant on about spending too much money and stating she needs to go. This is a human in question and not a yard dog from a poor family at the veterinarian's.  They're fighting back since the process is being rushed.  

First, I want to say SHAME ON YOU to the lawyer. Getting a coroner to fill out a death certificate on the girl is low. His words do not come from God's own lips. Read on to see what I refer to.

With a heavy heart, I realized watching this unfold that I was as cold-hearted as the lawyer earlier in my life. On duty one night, the father of a distant relative came in the hospital where I worked. I was doing CPR as the code blue. As his pupils became fixed and dilated, I thought that he was brain dead. He was sent to a hospital floor on a ventilator after the EEG was flat. A month later, he left the hospital because "God happened." He was still able to farm his land. Though he was weak on one side with a useless arm, he countered that with having said arm in a sling.

The next time God intervened was when a teenaged girl was hit on the side of her head with a baseball. I saw the X-Rays and C.A.T. scans. It was not a pretty picture. The hospital said she was brain-dead. She missed a year of school. Her recovery was credited to rehabilitation, her family and God. This girl, which was declared brain dead, walked into the Intensive Care Unit in the hospital where I worked a year later with her mother. The girl's mother went with her to school to carry her books as she was unable to do so having general overall weakness. Dear Mr. Lawyer, the girl was in a regular class, not a special education class.

There are several other cases I know of where a person who was declared brain dead recovered. These cases are not typical when God determines it is time to go. Nothing will change that.

My point is this: we cannot stop doing our medical best for everyone. That's not a power for mankind.

If you want to know why I feel so strongly about this, consider: Hitler started his madness with his 'Life unworthy of Life' campaign.