whats going on
Hey! Sweet Yo I had the sweetest time at the game last night! I got to go down onto the field for the entire first half of the game. We got tickets with my parents to see the game behind the end zone on the North side of the field But my dad's friend has these passes to go onto the field, so I went down for the first half with him and my dad went down for the second half It was awesome We got to just follow along the field as the ball went up and down We were like in the hawaii defense huddle just listening to their coach getting angry with them it was super cool We ended up getting home at around 12 though Winnie (my dog) was not happy about that she ended up playing till 1 in the morning So we ended up staying up too this morning we totally slept in on accident and missed all of church Our ward meets at 8 am which kind of stinks so we woke up around 10 and just missed it all So we just kind of took the morning slow and got ready for the day We drove up and through the alpine loop, which was snowing lots and then came to my in laws for dinner/ to do laundry Winnie ended up peeing on Michaela's lap because she was so nervous so that was lots of fun But now we are just chilling out and watching some football as my mother in law makes dinner Fun stuff I I've started a new project at work we are now building out some employee management apps for some clients that I'm helping with I have a good prompt to talk about: Do you think that alternative energies are effective and worth the investment? I personally would say yes Although currently it still does cost quite a bit to operate clean energy plants, the benefits long term are so much better first off, the supply never really dies down.  We will almost always have solar and wind and some of these other solutions that have been invented the trade off is though that coal and natural gas and oil are far cheaper for us to use However, they are limited in supply and they are awful for the enviroment If you can use clean energy for long enough then a lot of times you can get your money's worth out of it. Another thing I'd be curious about your take on is the new bill prop 2 here in utah I think it's very interesting I think it was good that some compromises were made though regarding how strict the bill will be Marijuana should be legal to people who need it medically, but the problem I see with it is that people will use really lame and often times faked illnesses to get access to i it I think the bill is good in that they limit who can produce and sell it.  But, I think that it still doesn't do enough to ensure that only those who are very sick can get access to it. I worry that our state will just be filled with people who claim that for "nerves" they need to have marijuana or some other lame made up illness That's the only drawback that this bill will have It just makes it too easy for people to get it. Another interesting topic is that of space travel And whether it's even worth it. I personally would say yes. If you look back on the space race and all the technologies that it brought, it has a huge benefit to society In more recent years we have learned how to land rockets and reuse them(looking at spacex) Been able to make them economical and send people as tourists into space and send more satellites out as well In addition to that, the possibilities with establishing colonies on the moon and mars are just incredible They've discovered ice on the moon and on mars so we know that we could get water from there We have also discovered that the resources necessary for making fuel are present on both the moon and mars This makes it possible not just to land on these planets, but also to leave and return from them If we can establish a colony on the moon then we can then do tests and refine technologies at an exponential speed currently the international space station conducts experiments in zero gravity all the time but having an established colony in a sterile enviroment would make it possible to do so much more. In addition to all of these technologies that we can discover and create there we could also mine the moon for it's resources I don't remember specifically which minerals the moon has, but I have read that there are minerals there that are  becoming scarce on earth and would be very valuable for us. We could mine these materials and ship them back to the states When we have these kinds of operations going on, it makes it possible to create jobs and work there This would allow for more people to go to the moon and businesses to go there as well. These possibilities allow for people to then colonize and have families there thus making a whole nation of it's own on the moon They would probably establish their own laws and govern themselves it could also serve as a base for launching more rockets throughout the galaxy With lower gravity it would require minimal effort to send a rocket off from the moons surface We could test out space elevators! and dock ships out of orbit There are so many possibilities I am really excited to see something like this happen So returning to my original point, I think it would totally be worth exploring space I think the possibilites combined with all the technology that comes with space exploration is totally worth it. I think a lot of Elon Musk and spacex when it comes to the future of our planet. People who are innovative and discovering these new technologies and on the forefront of discovery Autonomous cars are something that are especially intruiging to me Currently we have lots of traffic in our big cities.  Typically its because someone taps their brakes really hard and it causes a chain reaction that goes for miles With autonomous vehicles this wouldn't happne! happen they could communicate with each other and flow perfectly on interstates causes traffic to decrease Merge perfectly without causing other cars to brake They could eliminate the need for intersections because cars would be able to talk with each other perfectly and avoid hitting each other as they pass through And on top of all of this efficiency that they will bring, they would also eliminate millions of deaths per year When you think of it, cars are death trap s we get ourselves killed all the time by stupid human errors cause while driving Autonomous cars would avoid accidents and save millions of lives per year currently tesla has made some huge strides in both vehicle safety and autonomous vehicles Their cars are extremely safe to the point where cars can get absolutely totalled and people walk away unharmed And they already have developed cars with autonomous features, they're just fine tuning it and waiting for legislation allowing for it's full adopted use Another curious thought of mine is technology causing more harm or is it helping more to our future? Technology has definitely done amazing things for us, but I feel like our world is getting very polluted with technology From Cyberattacks to just poor use of technoloyg technology people are misusing technology left and right But overall I think with this increase in technology there is also an increase in awarenees awareness We are becoming more aware of the things that we are doing wrong and trying to correct them with even more technology For example with the industrial revolution we discovered so many good things, however in the process we destroyed a lot of our enviroment Currently we are more aware of this and have placed laws and created new technologies to combat all of the harm that we have done. We are probably creating problems now that we are not even aware of, but I'm sure that eventually we will realize what we are doing and again, course correct Something i'd be interested in hearing about from you is whether or not Lord of the Rings, or some other movie is the greatest on earth I think a lot of people hold harry potter, star wars, or other movies ahead of it. but I think overall Lord of the Rings is still king in terms of the best movies/books ever made Not only is it just so classic but also all of the amazing storylines so perfectly woven it just creates a perfect movie I don't know if anyone could ever a better movie than the Lord of the Rings Maybe like 20 years in the future we will appreciate and want either a remake or a spinoff of it but for now it's definitely the best movie I think as a kid I used to watch the two towers like almost every week i had almost the entire movie memorized The one thing that disappointed me though was the hobbit movies It was really good and all, but I would've appreciated them narrowing it down to just 2 movies and removing all of the extra stuff that they added I liked the first movie and appreciated the third movies action sequences, but I didn't really like the white orc plot line Going back to autonmous vehicles like I was talking about earlier. This is why I think they'll be huge in the future! The car industry in recentry years has seen many new changes that have been revolutionizing the way we see trasnportation. The biggest technological advancement, arguably in my opinion would be that of autonomous vehicles. These are vehicles that drive themselves with no human interaction. Tesla has hit news recently with their accouncements that they will have fully autonomous vehicles running within the following yeras year that is, pending government approval and liscensing restrictions. But even with all this exciting technology, what effect is this going to have on America's future? Not only can autonomous vehicles help prevent fatalities, they can prevent billions of dollars in damages each year making america not only safer, but more economical. In 2015 i remember reading that for roughly every 100 million miles driven there are about 1.12 vehicle fatalities. This may not seem like alot, but considering that there are billions of miles driven in the states thats like tens of thousands of fatalities that we didn't need to have happe happen. Those were all a result of human error. They could have all been prevented with autonomous vehicles. Elon musk thinks that they can have autonomous vehicles that will eliminate these deaths completely I get that a lot of people are skeptical as to whether or not these vehicles are actually safe enough to put our trust in. Especially due to the softwareware malfunctions or lack of human control while driving. But, the fact that AV's will follow traffic laws every time without fail, they'll have updatable software to fix and bugs and they'll improve the quality of their thinking over time, it would be dumb to not accept them. They'll prevent accidents on our roads. Fortunately companies are working in coordination with state and federal governments to push through laws to ensure vehicle safety Both with traditional and autonomous vehicles When these vehicles hit the road in our cities they will help prevent not only the loss of life, but also prevent thousands of car crashes each year saving us billions of dollars in damages. These expenses are a huge burden that AV's can help eliminate. AV's can predict traffic patterns and keep up a constant speed to prevent bottlenecks and accidents on our highways. Time lost is money lost in most commuters worlds. Not only will improved traffic mean more time for the conveniences of work and life, but also more flexibility with work for many as well. Besides just reducing traffic, we could also increase speed limits without causing danger to anyone 2 hour commutes can turn into 30 minute rides instead On the flip side, you could argue that technology is not advanced enough to achieve these feats. The other advantage to AV's is that they can collect data on what is happening in their customers cars and use this to predict what it should do in various scenarios So someone who is driving a tesla themselves, if they brake and the car thinks it wouldn't have braked, they company can look at that scenario and the camera footage and see whether they need to tweak their algorithms to account for that given situation. AV's also have the capability to reduce the need for so many parking lots in cities. With AV's one could run a quick errand or go to a quick meeting and have the car drive around the block or even head home for the day to not have to pay for expensive parking or take up parking in the city. Imagine the possibilities for cities and the opportunites for growth if all of the sudden half of the garages we currently have are no longer necessary. Not only could cities save on teh expensive cost of parking garages, but they could use this extra space is busy cities to build another productive thing such as a park or a commercial office building Many cities and businesses make quite a bit of money on parking and rely on its profits to drive other trasnportation projects forward. However, the potential from other busineesses in these areas will bring them more profits and boost the economy in the city so it would probably still be a win for cities It's hard to imagine a real world application where this would even be possible, cars doing the driving for us. Imagine going to the airport for a business trip or maybe to visit relatives in a different state. I would imagine most people would park their car in an economy lot and leave it there for several days until they got back. not only that, but they are forced to wait 30-60 minutes for the transit from the airport, onto a shuttle and finally to their car. With AV's people will be able to drop themselves off right at the drop off lane at the airport, tell their car to go home to save on the cost of parking, and upon arrival back home they could have it come pick them up right at baggage claim. Not only could people save money, but the convenience of the ordeal will be extremely lucrative in an ever evolving society of innovators. Airports generally are forced to build on lots twice as big as the airports themsevles to accomodate for parking Once again we could save the money and build more productive things than parking in those areas AV's will make way for smaller roads which will decrese the need for large road budgets and save room in cities. Many US interstates can have up to as many as 5-7 lanes for transit going in both directions. These enormous interstates are meant to accommodate the heavy transit that many cities see around the country. While some owuld argue that we should have larger roads with more cars and AV's on the road. Because of their advanced driving abilities we will be able to move more traffic faster and reduce the road congestion. Traffic lanes could also be able to be way smaller due to the accuracy or AV's in keeping distance from surrounding vehicels. Many traffic lanes are fairly wide to compensate for human error, but with AV's we can save on the space in cities and tighten the lanes allowing for bike lanes, larger sidewalks to promote walking parks benches and trees too Cities can save on less road maintenance, a key issue currently in the US We could use this money elsewhere with less money coming in from traffic tickets and parking, this could help exponentially in compensating for the lack of revenue being generate to AV's AV's are going to revolutionize the way we see trasportation because they will provide greater convenience with commuting. Many parents often face the dilemma of how they will be able to take their kids to so many activities and also work to pay the bills. With AV's parents will be able to drive their kids to school while sitting at their desks working. Their cars can tak their kids for them with no worries of risk or injury. The possibilites are endless! Many would argue that these innovations will make us more distant and lazy though too After all we are becoming a super lazy country Lots of obesity, smart phones, less pressure to marry and commit to creating families, all of those factor in to being lazy AV's are already legal in a few states so we know that some states are ready for AV's to become a standardized thing. There have been several laws permitting their use in states across the us currently and many efforts are being made to legalize the use across the country Telsa is so confident that I remember them offering an option to prepay for their autonomous features to have the car preprogrammed for it Several other companies are also working on their own models and pushing to have them ready by 2020 to compete with tesla. Automated busses, trucks and cars will revolutionize the transportation industry. However, even with all of these amazing changes that could result from this technology many are still skeptical as to autonomous vehicles safety and also the effects it could have on jobs. One of the main concerns that people have with this is that if they reduce traffic and accidents, what will happne to the thousands of jobs people currently have realted to commercialized trasnportation not only will many law enforcement officiers lose work but also many commercial drivers as well. There are millions of commercial drivers working in the US currently Thats a lot of jobs that potentially could be cut or phased out due to AV's although they are obviously the economical and safe thing to do considering there are so many crashes each year One must keep in mind that there are very real people out there who currently rely on this lack of technology in the market to make a living. If they were to enter the commercial market than millions would lose their jobs. If we could help curb this job loss the government may need to coordinate to come up with solutions and new opportunities for work. In addition, with the lack of money from tickets and fines coming in, the governments resources for repairing our roads would be greatly reduced cuasing many problems to our already crumbling road system. State governments already spend billions each year There is no denying that AV's will have a positive effect, but the only question to be had is does America trust AV's can I trust these cars with my safety? can I trust they will perform exactly as they are meant to or, will it malfunciton and be the reason for my death or the death of my loved one. Just as operator-less elevators once scared many, autonomous vehicles are going to be benificial and we don't need to be scared. Yeah I honestly don't know if much more can be said about autonomous vehicles Another topic that has interested me quite a bit over the years is that of minimum wage Especially with amazon raising theirs to $15 an hours Although minimum wage in general seems like a very lucrative thing, many do not understand the damaging affects this will have on the poor and working class.  I don't say this from like a middle or upper class perspective thinking only of myslef but as a fellow minimum wage (somewhat) earning college student with the same concerns about finances and same frustrations about income. Many places (primarily Seattle) have been pushing to raise the minimum wage to$15 per hour they hope that this will help out the lower class. I get it, and I understand that people really want this raise.  But I don't believe people understand the downside to the wage hike.  If t they raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour then there will be a decline in the number of jobs for temporary/part time workers there will also be a decrease in demand for those same products and services that those companies rovide Which means, ultimately they will eliminate jobs. In addition to that people probably won't be able to afford a lot of goods Although it sounds like a good idea raising the minimum wage will cause empolyers to fire employees to make up the difference from having to pay so much more In many states the minimum wage is around $9 per hour.  So if they were to raise it to 15 then people would have to charge like twice as much for their products to pay employe employees what we are going to start seeing are jobs being eliminated and either replaced by robots or simply one employee will be forced to cover the work of 2-3 It's going to be terrible! The small companies won't be able to compete and will shut down or downsize dramatically. Big companies will be okay, but they will increase their pricing big time. It will just create inflation for these companeis And for our economy. Which is terrible for everyone honestly It's no good getting paid $6 more an hour when your rent goes up by $200 and your milk and other goods increase by $1-5 each! That's just stupid. i'd rather make $9 in an economy with lower prices than have to do that. We just watched a quiet place and it was pretty good. Very intense, but a pretty good story line I was definitely filled with some anxiety and stress during that movie, because of all of the suspense. I am not sure how I feel about John dying Not a cool event in the movie I was kind of hoping that John would be the one to just go crazy and kill all 3 of them and that their family would all live through it But that didn't happen Super smart though everything they did From padding the walls with newspapers to the oxygen for the baby to the light system and what it meant Really smart ideas that they had I hear that they are thinking of doing a second movie But from the perspective of a different family I would totally go see it We are now watching Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban I forgot how much I really like these movies Kind of makes me Want to Go Back and read the books over again I really like this one Because hermione does that thing where she goes back in time so she can go to more classes Also the whole werewolf thing is super cool Ohhhh and the dementors! Super fun I think this is one of the better movies in this series that they did Some of the books are definitely better, but this is probably the best movie I can't even remember the last time I watched this movie Or any of the Harry Potter movies for that matter Lol my mother in laws dog just fell off the couch trying to walk over to me Super funny I'm pretty excited for tomorrow I don't really have much going on, but I've got a fun project to work on Granted it's with a partner who isn't super involved or super creative, but it should still be fun I think I'm just going to do everything on my own and if he wants to Chip in he always can haha I'm thinking of tutoring as well for like $10 an hour for CS 142 Just to see if I'm good at it and if I am I'm good at it then I'll start charging like $15 an hour I have a job that pays well already, but I just think tutoring 142 would be a lot of Fun! Plus it'll help me brush up on some of my c++ skills Something I haven't coded in for a while That would help me a lot honestly I've had some interviews where they've liked me To code in c++ but all I really have done recently is java Maybe I'll look into it actually Could be fun But only after this week is over, I've already got a lot of other work to do I have my big midterm on Thursday or Friday Haven't quite decided when I want to take it Bye the way, In case you were wondering Harry just made aunt pitunya super fat And she floated away Or not his aunt but his uncles mother actually I don't know how Harry is never terrified of everything that goes on in his magical world I would be absolutely petrified honestly JK Rowling is seriously so creative though All of the little creative details in her books are just amazing honestly I'm pretty excited for our 3v3 intramural basketball team Should be lots of fun I haven't played in quite some time though Maybe like 3 months now, probably a little less But I think I've still got it I guess we will find out when we have our first game probably I'm going to go eat some snacks Be back in a bit I was a little disappointed with the football games today Not a lot of good matchups Well, the patriots playing right now is But other than that there aren't a lot of good games on I think I've only really been interested with packers, rams and chiefs this year So any other game just isn't all that interesting to me Hagrid is now a teacher For your information in this movie we are watching We need to schedule a day To watch nba basketball this week What are you Answering the original prompt, I would totally choose Mozart I actually made a playlist on Spotify called "beats by Mozart" it's for studying It's got a photo of mozart with beats headphones on as the cover for the playlist I thought it was pretty funny I really want to Validate my Business idea but am not sure where to start Whether to see competitors rates or to see what I could charge BYU students I think I'll create a qualtrics survey and try and get some people to respond to that for me I need to make it short enough to where people will be interested in finishing,  but long enough to get some solid data I think I'm going to give out some kind of prize raffle sort of thing to encourage people to participate in my survey I think there are lots of grants available for validating business ideas on campus If I can validate the business idea based on a salary projection than I can probably convince them to give me like $500 to validate the student labor aspect Of the idea We applied for one of these grants last year But we're denied because it wasn't really descriptive enough But I think I know how to get the grant now It shouldn't be too difficult There is also this cool thing you Can do where you can make a google ad spoof Basically it will show a title on google, but the webpage actually goes no where, but it tracks how many people that see the ad click on it And you can see demand based on that So maybe I'll do that too I have lots of research to get done before doing any of it I also have lots of research to do for my other idea Of making that machine learning bot to determine angry customers from normal ones I don't even know where I would start for that one I think I need to research which products and services would even allow for that kind of work I then need to find a project that already has voice recognition built into it for determining words and potentially also Determining tone of voice If something like that doesn't exist then I may need to Make it myself That could be a project in itself honesty Honestly But I think it could be very cool and be very profitable If it doesn't pay off at the very least it will be really good experience for me I could show it off as a project I've done for my resume It would be really cool So I need to 1) identify the hardware that I could use 2) determine the languages I need to use 3) determine the basic algorithm/ routine that it would use to maximize efficiency and to teach itself how to read voices The only real big issue is finding a cheap method for storing all the data that it will be gathering as I am testing this I may have to store it locally on my computer until I can raise money to pursue this idea on a larger scale There are a lot of problems to solve still I don't know how to do machine learning Or where to really start when creating this software I don't know if I'll need help or even if it'll take a team of people There is a chance I may have to get funding in order to build a team that can focus on this project Obviously I will try to do all of it on my own, but I may end up discovering f that I'm going to need some Help on it It's all super exciting honestly Once this semester cools down a little bit i will probably really Start to pursue this more I'm really excited though! I'm thinking I may actually start my research into How to Build that software I mentioned tonight Maybe just to get an idea as to where to begin And potentially go see some professors tomorrow to see what they would suggest to build it I am super sleepy already I don't know It If I'm sick or what But I've been really tired like all the time recently My only guess is that I've got to be a little sick on some level I don't know why else I would be this tired I'm torn between things I'd like to get done and things that I know need to get don It's really bothersome honestly I really need to start studying more for my big test I need to start thinking of other business ideas though I need to have some more in case these two ones don't pan out Validation honestl is key with these ideas I need to prove out whether they will work or not And be ready to go through with them if they do Seriously though there is never enough time during the semester for these side projects It really stinks honestly Im curious your thought on whether or not censorship is effective I went to India a couple of months ago and while there got to see a couple of movies both on TV and in the theatres They actually censor Alcohol and Smoking there So like in the actual movie when there is a beer or a cigarrette they'll blur out the bottle or smoke It's really interesting And in commercial breaks on tv they will put messages about how the movie contains smoking and how bad it is for you. I think that although it's really weird, it is actually really effective I know that it would never fly here in the US, but maybe one day when smoking really starts to die down then they will consider it. India actually has a lot less people who smoke and drink then the US Oh that trip was actually awesome So obviously it's much cheaper than the US We stayed at some five start hotels for like $30 a night! It was really cool They also had massages and hair cuts for like $3 total it was awesome I got a full shave and head massage for $3! Super awesome I would totally consider going back there on a vacation Honestly I would consider going to anywhere in southeast asia Because it's so cheap to stay and eat there! We are thinking of actually going on a vacation to Hawaii next year! The polynesian cultural center, pinnaple groves, nice beaches It would be so much fun! But it'll probably be pretty expensive to be honest. So i'll have to start saving up a lot haha I have a question for you So I'm a Computer Science major so my opinion is pretty biased but, I'm curious your thoughts on computers in the classroom I think that it's really good to have them! For me at least it helps me be more productive in my classes, but I can understand how it could also be a major distraction. I don't really know how it is in your accounting classes, but I have a lot of teachers who say that no computers helps more than computers But I honestly think that we should be able to have computers in our classes. I wonder what would happen if instead of having hundreds of countris and governments around the world we just had one large country and president who decided everything for us When we watch all these movies about foreign galaxies It's always like each planet contains one civilization and one single country essentially Like in guardians of the galaxy Star Wars, etc. I wonder why we have never really considered it It could just be that our civilization is so much newer than others I think that we will probably have a moon country that's completely independent before we have a single government for all of the earth Hey I'm back! I was thinking a little bit about space exploration like I was talking about earlier I was wondering whether or not it would be better for the government to start increasing funding to NASA to allow them to pursue space exploration instead of leaving it in the hands of the private sector to do that. Currently it seems like they have a bunch of contracts with private companies so that they don't have to build rockets themselves. I honestly don't even know how they would catch up at this point. Lots of these private companies have been developing these technologies for a really long time now I'm not even sure how much money it would take for NASA to catch up should they have decided to pursue it. The other concern I have with Space exploration is that the company leading the charge in innovation and rocket technology appears to be SpaceX, but as it's run by someone who is not an American, i'm curious if should money come into play if they would build rockets for other countries such as Russia and China Obviously it would be unlikely given that their facilities are all in the United States, but it is a real possibility Not that other countries shouldn't be allowed to explore space too, but I feel that it would be better if the United States was at the forefront of space exploration. That or a joint partnership between countries If we were to establish a colony on the moon then we might have some other issues. Who controls the interests there? Would it also be some kind of international council Would a specific country seize complete control? Would it be completely neutral and only the private parties involved would have a say? Or would the American Government essential force the private sector to allow it to establish itself on the moon And later on when people start to have families on the moon would they decide to go independent and create their own country or government? Lots to consider. I once watched this cool video about settling the moon and the financial opportunities involved It was very intriguing. I think that if I had the opportunity then I would probably want to take my family and live on the moon It would be awesome! But I don't know if that would be in our best interest. It honestly depends. I really hope that our planet doesn't turn into some Elisium movie type scenario Where the world is just a giant desert and going to the dumps. I could see it becoming a really crowded, run down place Especially with all the damage we are constantly doing to it. But I do believe that mankind is good enough to take care of it and resolve problems that we cause. So tomorrow should be pretty exciting! It's my second anniversary! So we are going to go out to dinner Unfortunately since it's in the middle of the semester we can't really do much travel wise so we are going to go on a trip next summer instead. We are thinking of going to Hawaii! I'm very excited I think that if I can save about $200-300 per month during Fall and Winter semester than we should have enough money saved up by the summer to go! I'm not exactly sure how much it will cost, but I'm guessing it's going to be like $2000 total flying for us and another $1500 for hotels and maybe an extra $500 for food and stuff So probably like 4 - 5 k for the whole trip But that would also be going big Like nice hotels and stuff I think that I might be able to find an all inclusive deal that would be a lot less Okay, I'm going to bed now It's very late goodnight talk to you tomorrow!