Search the [mis]Information Highway

When was the last time you went to the library? Seriously, do you even remember? I can’t. I used to go and often. Why is this happening? Because getting information today is quite easy, just go on the “internet”. We don’t even have to be confined to a desktop computer attached from a cord on a wall anymore, just pull your smartphone out of your pocket and get your fix. Yeah, it’s that addictive. Hello, my name is Raf and I am an addict. It has reached a point that my wife often reminds me to come back to reality. But she can’t complain too much, after all she knew she was marrying a geek many years ago .

The internet has evolved into a truly wonderful thing: it is a combination of a virtual library and entertainment center that is now accessible from a device that fits in our pockets. Our pockets!! Let that sink in for a moment because everyone is taking it for granted now. Can you foresee implants coming very soon? Don’t laugh, you will be getting one too.

News, weather, sports, music, movies, books, shopping, games, porn, make virtual friends who you can exchange statuses, meal pictures and whereabouts… it’s a smorgasbord! No wonder people are addicted. But wait… is this really a bad thing? No, not really, as long as you use moderation and self-discipline. Otherwise you are as dead as a zombie.

Unfortunately, because it is so easy to access, it can also be a cesspool, with ramping misinformation being the new order. A few times I made a wrong turn and ended up in some dark corners of the internet (not to be confused with the Darknet). Not a lot of people are aware that the internet is a vast and deep ocean, and that search engines can only index a few meters in depth. Maybe an iceberg would make a better analogy.

What do you use when you need to do a search? I started with Yahoo long time ago, but Google appears to be the “defacto” search engine now, the most popular one according to the latest interweb poll. Like many things in my life, convenience leads to complacency, so yes, it is also my default search engine. I am aware there are other worthy ones out there, I keep trying different ones once in awhile,  however I have been using Google since I first discovered it in the summer of 2000 and it never let me down. I have learned a few tricks or “hacks” for it along the way; with a bit patience and practice one can become proficient in Googling almost anything.

Why would I even switch from Yahoo to Google? The reason was simple for me at the time, keep in mind this was happening in the early years of 2000 when the internet of today was in its infancy: Yahoo indexed web page titles only while Google indexed the whole web page content. I have worked with technology for a long time and when looking for documentation or parts, Google was increasingly getting better at finding it fast, the switch was inevitable for me.

Move forward a couple of decades and we are now facing a different issue: Google knows too much. This is not new, it is just getting worse. I still remember sending an email to a friend around 2003 discussing my possible purchase of a new digital camera, what happened next was somewhat of a rude awakening: within a couple of hours of sending that email the ads both of us were seeing changed explicitly to digital cameras. How would you feel? I felt a little violated at that time because I thought my email (Gmail actually) was private. Today I know better and I am immune to it.

Fake news is what really gets me unsettled, it’s the ultimate deception.

Deception for an ulterior motive. I have been caught off guard, the best way I can describe it is being hit by an emotional tsunami. That betrayed feeling when you realize it was fake is a virtual slap in the face. Sadly there is no rest stop on the misinformation highway, and it’s getting congested. For me, it’s gotten to the point that I assume the majority of the big news is fake, or at the very least, take it with a grain of salt.

Is Trump really a nut job?

Is COVID-19 a conspiracy?

Is 5G bad for your health?

No wonder anxiety and depression is on the rise…

In conclusion, the internet is truly a wonderful thing, and because of this it has become a scary place at the same time. Just use moderation and self-discipline and take news with a grain of salt.

Otherwise you are as dead as a zombie.

Stream Live Video with Motion

Just some notes on how to configure Linux motion to stream a USB camera.

This assumes you have a working USB camera connected and motion installed.

Edit the motion configuration file: sudo nano /etc/motion/motion.conf

Change the following settings:

daemon to ON.
framerate to the max, 100.
stream_quality to 100.
stream_localhost to OFF.
webcontrol_localhost to OFF.
quality to 100.
width, height to your choice (I chose 720 x 480).
post_capture to 5.
stream_maxrate to 100.

Save changes.

To turn on the daemon edit this file: sudo nano /etc/default/motion

Set start_motion_daemon to YES.

Save changes.

Start the daemon by typing: sudo service motion start

Open a browser to your IP address on port 8081 and you should see your camera:

Image from RockpiS running Ubuntu with a cheap USB camera connected.