NY criminalizes ticket-buying bots

There are lots of people abusing online services to make a quick buck, and buying tickets online is unfortunately one such service - to the point that NY has now decided to criminalize ticket-buying bots.

New York gets its first WiFi-enabled buses

Using buses in New York is about to get busier, as the city has started rolling out the first wave of WiFi enabled buses.

9/11 The Day that Changed the World

It's hard to remind ourselves once again that that the day that changed the world, right in the beginning of a new 21st century, happened 10 years ago today.

A day that started like any other day, with millions of people going about their daily routines, to work, to school, etc. would soon become one of the most horrifying days in the history of mankind.

An attack of pure terror, that targeted not a single nation, but humanity as a whole, and the freedom to live our lives as we see fit.

Fortunately, the successful attack on the World Trade Center twin towers - besides the unthinkable tragedy that changed and scarred the New York landscaped for this past decade - would also serve as a catalyst that this would not be allowed, could not be allowed, in a modern world and in modern society.

These events changed a lot of things, including giving some more latitude in our rights to privacy - not to mention the ever annoying pains of going through airport security whenever you want to board a plane - but, the fact is that the head of the terrorist organization that was behind these attacks was finally caught and put to rest.

I won't go into what "terrorism" stands for. Depending on which side we are, one can view them as simple acts of frustration when facing an apparently impossible task. But, no matter what, attacks on innocent civilians is something no sane person in this world could ever condone - no matter what his/her religion says.


My 9/11 day

I can still cleary recall that day. I was at work and received a call from my girlfriend saying that a plane crashed into the WTC. I immediately assumed it would be a small plane, and assured her that those buildings are built to withstand those sorts of things.

- Let's not forget that 2001 was a very long time ago in "computer terms". I didn't have an "always-on" internet connection; and people were still using Windows 98 (Windows XP would only be launched a couple of months later). There was no YouTube, no Twitter, and Google was still in its infancy.
If anything of this sort were to happen today, you can bet there would be immediately thousands of video streams broadcasting live, and Twitter and Facebook would go into "hyperspeed" mode with all the chatter (and probably crash along the way.)
It was a time when even the President of the USA, aboard the Air Force One, couldn't even make a reliable phone call to his vice-president - and the TV images seen on board were as lousy as a bad reception can be.

Some time later, I get another phone call, and my girlfriend tells me another plane crashed into the second tower. Oh oh... that time I didn't know what to say or think. This couldn't be no accident... But even so, never in a million years could I imagine what would happen latter on.

My boss left, going home to see what has happening on TV, and I resumed work... Until the next phone call came, my girlfriend once again, saying one of the WTC towers had just collapsed to the ground, completely.

I can't really recall what I thought or what I said, she claims I said she was crazy and hung up on her. All I know is that the world changed in that moment, and things would never go back to the way they were before.

...


In the aftermath, people were afraid, imagining a world where every building would have to be "airplane-proof", or where ground-to-air missiles would be deployed on top of tall buildings. But thankfully, things evolved differently, and 10 years later, although terrorism is still something real we all have to face, life goes on as usual - but the memory of these terrible attacks will never be forgotten.

Conspiracy Theories

One other thing that emerged from the 9/11 attacks were countless conspiracy theories: from the crashed airplane that was heading to the white house, to the airplane crashing into the Pentagon not being a plane, and even that the WTC builings falled due to careful controlled demolition(!).

Sure, I also did watch the so called "documentary" Loose change, and indeed it made me think twice about it and ask a lot of question - but the fact is that for every single question, there is a quite simple and logical answer - providing you're actually willing to look for an answer instead of just mumbling on conspiracy theories.

For instance, if you're willing to give credit to conspiracy theory claims, at least you also should give this 911 Reasearch Site a try, and think for yourself if it could indeed help you answer your doubts.

Google Earth New York 3D

It's amazing to see how much we've accomplished in such a short amount of time...

Do you remember seeing Google Earth for the first time? How much time did you waste just roaming around the globe?


And when they introduced 3D buildings... it got even better.

In 2007 this is what New York looked like in Google Earth:

Today... this is what you get:

No, it's no photo, it really is how it looks in Google Earth...

Amazing!

... and to imagine just a few decades ago, all I had to play were a few heavy atlas books and some plastic globe earth maps.

Amazing 3D New York Model

Well, maybe someday we'll have this kind of detail on Google Maps. :)




An amazingly detailed model of New York in 3D, fully textured, from ScreamPoint.

via [3D and 2D]