So, I'm reading my National Geographic and I come across an interesting article on high-tech surveillance. Being an engineer (and I can say that now because I am) I am fascinated with technology, but I'm also very cautious. I was astonished when I read about the NSA's 560-acre satellite dish array in Menwith Hill, England. Experts say that with this dish network, the agency's supercomputers can scan millions of ordinary phone calls and e-mails an hour. That's hundreds of millions of calls and letters a week! If my calculations are correct, then once a year at least every single person on this planet has been monitored at least once! And that's just by the United States! As I sit right here and type this blog, who's to say the U.S. did not just intercept that e-mail I just sent? Keep that in mind next time you're talking to girlfriend or typing an e-mail about world domination.

I'm adding a new segment to my blog called, "Freddy Says." Freddy is the code name I'll use for a guy who works at one of The Company's blacktop plants. I don't want to embarrass anyone on this blog you know by giving out real names. Anywho, I see Freddy every now and then when he's got some little aspect of the blacktop application he wants changed or he blows an opto out. Freddy always has some funny comment to say. Although he's dead serious about it, I think it's about the funniest thing I've heard since the last time I saw him. So, this is how it goes . . .

Freddy says, "Don't try and be a hero, but wend up becoming a zero."
Freddy says, "If I ever screw someone over, it'll be big! Why go to jail for something small, when you can go to jail for doing some big?"
Freddy says, "Oh I'm not screwing you over, your wife maybe, but not you."