Aaron Hollman's Blog

I usually don’t rant like this but here goes:

The news of what Bozeman, Montana wants to do began making the rounds late last week. I first saw a link as a Twitter Tweet and thought, “Nah. This has to be some joke.” When I went to the linked Slashdot story then to the actually news story from a news affiliate in Montana, I was stunned. So here’s what’s happening in Bozeman, Montana:

The city of Bozeman ‘requires’ you to provide your username AND PASSWORD to any social networking site you belong to on the job application. I can understand this if you were applying for a job with the CIA or the NSA where National Security is an issue, but this is for a municipal job, collecting trash, mowing ditches, spraying weeds, etc; this is worst than being forced to take a polygraph by an employer. (from which you are protected by law I might add)

In a world where an online presence is becoming more and more a way of life and necessary and not just an escape from reality, this is equivelent to the city asking you to make a copy of your house key and telling them they can come in and look around whenever they want to. It is wrong and thankfully, I just found it, it has been stopped.

Apparently, there was such a backlash to this requirement that they removed the requirement for usernames and passwords to any social networking site they belong to. We should still let this be a warning that actions like this must not be tolerated.

aaron

Montana City requires job applicants to submit “social networking” passwords | TopNews United States

Montana City Asks Potential Employees to Hand Over Personal Passwords

Bozeman drops password requirement – Montana’s News Station – Fair. Accurate. To the Point. -

Share:

Flag of Greenland

This is just a quick shout-out to Greenland and the implementation of a referendum passed last fall in which it gained self-determination today. This means that Greenland is one step closer to gaining its independence from Denmark. Its good to know that independence does not always have to be violent. Way to go Greenland!

aaron

(I thought for sure that the flag would be green.)

Share:

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter - From jpl.nasa.gov

NASA is returning to the moon. Great! We should have never left.

Yesterday, NASA launched an Atlas V rocket carrying a series of scientific instruments. These instruments help prepare NASA for a human return to the moon in about ten years. One of the instruments is the LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter). This is a satellite that will create a 3-D map of the moon’s surface similar to what the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter did for Mars. We should get some fantastic images from it.

The second instrument on the rocket is a satellite called LCROSS (Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite). Its goal is to observe as spent parts of the satellite are crashed into craters and probe for evidence of water on the moon.

In a few days or weeks, we should be getting images from the LRO. They should be much better than any images of the moon we have seen in the past.  For those of us who are interested in space exploration, this is very exciting stuff. Over time, there will be more launches of lunar satellites and rovers before we send men (and women) back to the moon. Stay tuned.

aaron

Share: