Kurt's Thoughts

This is… BRILLIANT.

Read more at the source:

• Vaccines Work:  Here are the Facts
  https://medium.com/the-nib/vaccines-work-here-are-the-facts-5de3d0f9ffd0

Today, a low flying quadracopter with a camera flew over my backyard, paused and stared at me for a while, then proceeded onward.

NOT FRICKIN’ COOL.

Now, I have ways of dealing with these things if they run on the 2.4Mhz band but not lesser used frequencies.  And frankly, I wasn’t prepared for this while sitting in my backyard – lucky for the pilot.  So I started digging up research on how others have dealt with such a privacy intrusion.

This is one thing I found:

• Drone Jammer
  A simple drone Jammer designed to hack unwelcomed civilian drones within your backyard range.
  http://www.qrz.ru/schemes/contribute/security/jammers/drone-jammer.pdf

As I find more, I’ll post.

Dear students, retail workers, and the rest of you that have been loitering on our street for one reason or another or otherwise consuming all the street parking. 

THE FREE RIDE IS OVER
This is a courtesy reminder that as of this month, our street is no longer available for you to park all-day on.  We are not a substitute car lot for those of you that can’t secure on-campus parking, nor are we free parking for those that don’t feel like paying for parking near their job.

After having several homes broken into, random strangers hanging out on our street eating and (more disturbingly) drinking in their cars, littering our lawns with beer/wine bottles, fast food wrappers and other refuse, and occupying every last bit of street parking we have until 8PM at night, the residents of our street have successfully petitioned the city to restrict parking in excess of 2 hours to resident permit only.

FINES & PROCESS
We’re also ensuring that the limits are enforced by fines and patrolled regularly.  (According to the Los Angeles Municipal Code, Chapter VIII Division W) 

• The 1st fine is $58. 
• The late penalty fine (post 14 days) is $116.
• The second late penalty (post 58 days) is $141. 

Our street residents have also been educated on how to report vehicles in violation of the posted restrictions. 

• The phone number to report cars that have been in the area too long and dispatch Parking Enforcement is (213) 485-4184.

Marvel’s “Avengers” is the #3 motion picture revenue generator of all-time, behind only Avatar & Titanic.  Disney/Marvel has 4 more “Avengers” movies coming out and speaking as a geek that knows the storylines, I believe they’re all going to be bigger than the original “Avengers”. (Note: Captain America: Civil War is effectively an Avengers title)

Marvel’s recent “Guardians of the Galaxy” was the #1 revenue generating movie of 2014.  They have “Guardians of the Galaxy 2” coming up in 2 years.

Additionally, Disney’s recent release of the “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” trailer & acknowledgement that “Frozen 2” is definitely in the works by “Elsa’s” Idina Menzel is all icing on the cake.

Why am I bringing this up?

From Oct 29th, 2014, the following is the motion picture release schedule for Marvel Entertainment for the next 5 years (aka Phase 3), as announced at the El Capitan Theatre a couple weeks ago. If you know Marvel lore, and more importantly, how much money these films have brought in, hold on to your hats, folks:  This is about to get crazy fun.

PHASE 1: (2008-2012 $3.8B in revenue)

• Ironman
• The Incredible Hulk
• Ironman 2
• Thor
• Captain America: The First Avenger
• The Avengers

PHASE 2: (2013-2015 $revenue TBD)

• Ironman 3 ($1215m)
• Thor: The Dark World ($640m)
• Captain America: The Winter Soldier ($714m)
• Guardians of the Galaxy ($770)
• May 5, 2015: The Avengers: Age of Ultron
• July 17, 2015: Ant Man

PHASE 3: (2016-2019)

• May 6, 2016: Captain America: Civil War
• Nov 4, 2016: Doctor Strange
• May 5, 2017:  Guardians of the Galaxy 2
• July 28, 2017: Thor: Ragnarok
• Nov 3, 2017: Black Panther
• May 4, 2018: The Avengers: Infinity War (Part 1)
• June 6, 2018: Captain Marvel
• Nov 2, 2018: Marvel’s: Inhumans
• May ?, 2019: The Avengers: Infinity War (Part 2)

Someone video captured the announcement.

• VIDEO: Full Marvel Phase 3 Announcement (Marvel President Kevin Feiges, El Capitan Theatre, Oct 29, 2014 – 24min)
  http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=L2VoJuVfbjI