Aftershocks

The Napa Earthquake held the local TV News Cycle through the end of the Late Sunday Night News. It's dialed back Monday morning, however the clean-up will take weeks and the recovery years. I saw photos of the Trefethen Winery, it looks like a total loss. Monday's Noon News is reporting sixteen structures are red-tagged, meaning they are unfit for habitation. The 4PM News says there's nearly 50 red-tagged structures.

Trefethen Winery

Many wineries are reporting big losses of bottled wines and wine in the barrel.

Closer to home, Kirk Vallus messaged me via Facebook: "Spoke with Richard tonight, good news, went up to the Ranch today and not a stone had moved in the ruins..... That is a good thing...."

Richard owns quite a bit of the historic Napa Soda Springs Resort in Soda Canyon on the flanks of Atlas Peak. Richard's place has ruins of some of the original buildings that date to the 1860's, and many of the named mineral springs still flow. Soda Canyon is on the east side of the Napa Valley, well above the destruction of old downtown Napa.

Today drone images of downtown Napa's damages were posted to YouTube:
 

My heart goes out to the People of Napa...lots of work ahead...

It's certainly stunning footage, and drones are all the rage lately, but it's another Information Age connection that caught my fancy today: Jawbone UP

What's Jawbone? What's UP? I'd never heard of them before I saw this tweet this morning: "Wearable tech maker @jawbone says 93% of its users woke up at 3:20AM during earthquake"

I read the linked blog, perused Jawbone's UP website, and my blood's running a little colder now. It turns out I do know what Jawbone is...they are makers of the Bluetooth ear pieces that make mobile phones "hands-free", and they make Bluetooth speaker systems to stream your phone or iPod music to.

Jawbone UP is an "Activity Tracker", favored by people who want their entire lives and beings digitized for use by Mobile Apps and computers. A bracelet interfaces with your phone and records many channels of data including heart rate, physical exertion, time at rest or sleeping. Once saved and accessed the data is your to "Share" on social media, or embellish your daily diary or exercise planning. UP tracks your activity, diet and sleep. UP's website touts:

• Healthy Food Score
• Simple Water Logging
• Popular Restaurant Menus
• Enhanced Calorie Tracking

I wonder how long before the NSA is selling this personal intel to Insurance Companies to finance yet another covert (read Unconstitutional) surveillance program (or worse). Facebook is snoopy enough! At least there you must first chose to report your thoughts, activities, and post photos of your meals at the newest trendy restaurants!

I removed the Facebook App from my smartphone 3-4 weeks ago, when the latest Facebook "Feature" seemed too invasive for my sensibilities.

Being awakened by earthquake tremors is one thing...plugging in my vital signs to the cloud would keep me up all night!