Pi Day

Happy Pi Day Everyone!  Today is 3.14, so eat plenty of pies.

3.14

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8979323846

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5923078164

0628620899

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3421170679

Amazon to Collect Sales Tax from Utah Residents

Sadly, Governor announces deal with Amazon to collect sales tax on Utah purchases (KSL.com). Starting January 1st, 2017, sales tax will apply to all purchases.

Technically, "Utah law requires residents who aren't charged sales taxes on their online purchases to pay them with their state income taxes. But few comply, and efforts over the years to pass a federal law forcing companies to collect the taxes have faltered."

The speculation is that, in the past, Amazon has agreed to voluntarily collect sales tax for states when they have planned to build a physical presence in those locations.

Amazon is also reported to keep 18% of the sales tax collected for Utah.

Amazon already collects sales tax from several other states.

Leonard Nimoy - Spock of Star Trek - Dies at 83

Leonard Nimoy, Spock of Star Trek, Died today at 83

He lived long and prospered!

Blood Moon

Blood Moon  (image from Google Images)

Tomorrow morning (Wednesday, October 8th, 2014), there will be a "Blood Moon" total lunar eclipse. The eclipse will appear from 4:20 am to 5:20 am, with the peak maximum total eclipse appearing at around 4:50 am (for Salt Lake City).

Local viewing times can be found on the Eclipse Calculator.

Viewing conditions as reported by AccuWeather

UPDATE: I posted the photo I took of the Blood Moon on my 365 project.

SanDisk announces world’s biggest SD card

SanDisk announces world’s biggest SD card – 512GB for $800

changes

A year of changes

Google Self-Driving Car

Google introduces their self-driving car prototype.

Read more at: http://goo.gl/qDUtgq

Evermore Theme Park Coming to Pleasant Grove Utah

Evermore Theme Park

A new theme park, by the name of Evermore Park, was announced last week at the Salt Lake Comic Con FanX (April 17th-19th, 2014).  Evermore Park will be a fantasy theme park in Victorian London Era covering more than 45 acres.  Evermore is being described an adventure park, with a fully immersive theatrical experience to rival Disneyland.

Evermore will be opening in 3 phases, with the first phase to be completed in 2015.  Evermore will be open year around and covers 3 seasons: autumn fest (haunt attractions), winter fest (lighting displays), and summer fest (fantasy carnival).

The Park will include elaborate gardens, attractions, a bay and retail shops.  "The park will also feature a three acre lake, a 2 acre town square with a performance stage, four elaborate gardens, and five large attraction spaces, all staffed by a large cast of professional performers."  The main courtyard and retail shops will be free access with the individual attractions will be ticketed separately.

The Evermore Park vision comes from Ken Bretschneider, the creator of the Evermore Pumpkin Fest.  Ken registered the Evermore Park, LLC in September of 2012.  The Evermore Pumpkin Fest hosted more than 5,000 people at Ken's home in October for the Pumpkin Fest, to celebrate the announcement for the Evermore Park.

Area just north of Pleasant Grove Boulevard and North Country Boulevard

Evermore will be built in Pleasant Grove, just north of just north of Pleasant Grove Boulevard and North County Boulevard..

Construction is expected to start this spring with a goal of having a good portion completed by Christmas.  It is expected to fully open in 2015.

See also:

• Evermore Facebook
• Evermore Park | Salt Lake Comic Con
• Pleasant Grouve Council Minutes - Review of Conceptual Site Plan for Evermore Theme Park

3.2 Magnitude Earthquake NE of Tooele, Utah

3.2 Magnitude Earthquake NE of Tooele, Utah

Not that a 3.2 magnitude earthquake is anything to talk about, but it felt like something to me.  ;-)

"Geological Survey reported a magnitude 3.2 earthquake that was felt in the Salt Lake Valley Saturday night.

The incident occurred at about 9:23 p.m., and a follow up press release form the USGS stated the earthquake occurred about 4 miles northeast of Tooele."

Bethany and I believe this may have been the first earthquake either of us can ever remember actually feeling.

References:

• fox13now.com
• EarthQuakeTrack.com
• UUSS ShakeMap
• quake.utah.edu

---

M3.2 - UTAH

Preliminary Earthquake Report

Magnitude	3.2
Date-Time	20 Apr 2014 03:22:51 UTC 19 Apr 2014 20:22:52 near epicenter 19 Apr 2014 19:22:51 standard time in your timezone
Location	40.581N 112.215W
Depth	6 km
Distances	8 km (4 mi) NE of Tooele, Utah 16 km (9 mi) WSW of Oquirrh, Utah 17 km (10 mi) SW of Magna, Utah 17 km (10 mi) WNW of Herriman, Utah 33 km (20 mi) SW of Salt Lake City, Utah
Location Uncertainty	Horizontal: 0.4 km; Vertical 0.5 km
Parameters	Nph = 68; Dmin = 8.3 km; Rmss = 0.28 seconds; Gp = 68° Version = 3
Event ID	uu 60065467

For updates, maps, and technical information, see: Event Page or USGS Earthquake Hazards Program

Reported by University of Utah Seismograph Stations

http://www.seis.utah.edu

Windows XP End of Support

Windows XP End of Support is on April 8th, 2014.

My old Windows XP machine (kids gaming system) popped up a warning saying that support is ending for Windows XP on April 8th (this coming Tuesday).  What does this mean for those using Windows XP?

This means no longer receiving the following for Windows XP:

• Technical assistance
• Windows updates
• Security updates
• Microsoft Security Essentials updates

"As a result, after April 8, 2014, technical assistance for Windows XP will no longer be available, including automatic updates that help protect your PC. Microsoft will also stop providing Microsoft Security Essentials for download on Windows XP on this date. Microsoft will no longer be providing security updates to help protect your PC. If you continue to use Windows XP after support ends, your computer will still work but it might become more vulnerable to security risks and viruses."

So, what does Microsoft recommend?  Upgrade ($$) of course.  Microsoft has provided a tutorial for upgrading Windows XP to Windows 8.1 (assuming your old hardware meets the new minimum system requirements).  If your old hardware does not meeting the system requirements, then that leaves only two options, continue to run Windows XP and hope for the best, or buy a new computer.

There is actually one other option: switch to Linux (check out this fun animation).  The system requirements are significantly lower, and the security updates are free.

Microsoft names Satya Nadella its next CEO

Satya Nadella - Microsoft's next CEO

"Microsoft has named Satya Nadella, an executive in charge of the company's small but growing business of delivering software and services over the Internet, as its new CEO. Company founder Bill Gates is leaving the chairman role for a new role as technology adviser.

The software company announced Tuesday that Nadella will replace Steve Ballmer, who said in August that he would leave the company within 12 months. Nadella will become only the third leader in the software giant's 38-year history, after Gates and Ballmer. Board member John Thompson will serve as Microsoft's new chairman.

Born in Hyderabad, India in 1967, Nadella received a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Mangalore University, a master's degree in computer science from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, and a master's of business administration from the University of Chicago."

Rolled Car on I-215

A car rolled on I-215, just outside of our office
Someone is having a rough day.

Later after traffic has started to pile up

Bitcoin Node in Space

Bitcoin may be heading to space soon.  In a recent article titled Core Developer to Launch Bitcoin Node in Space, there are discussions about launching Bitcoin nodes into space.  The benefits of these Bitcoin satellite nodes would be expanding the reaches of Bitcoin to remote areas that may only have satellite access, and helping prevent against attacks like the Sybil Attack.

Fusion-io Ranked a Best Place to Work

We (Fusion-io) made it on the news last night, as one of the fastest growing companies in the US! Go us. :-)

I walk by this pictured green "engineering" wall daily. Feeling a bit nostalgic.

http://www.ksl.com/?sid=27969354

Utah company named 4th fastest growing company in U.S. | ksl.com - http://www.ksl.com/?sid=27969354

"A Utah-based tech company was recently named the fourth-fastest growing company in America. Many people may not be familiar with Fusion-io, but they deliver the data faster on all most computers."

Also, through anonymous reviews on Glassdoor.com, Fusion-io has been ranked one of the top mid-sized companies to work for in 2014. Fusion-io announced our ranking this morning in a press release.

Read more at http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=27969354#T36T486AV4pdOww1.99"

A Utah-based tech company was recently named the fourth-fastest growing company in America. Many people may not be familiar with Fusion-io, but they deliver the data faster on all most computers.
Read more at http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=27969354#T36T486AV4pdOww1.99dd

Amazon Prime Air - Delivery by Drones

Drones may soon (within 5 years) be delivering packages directly to your home.  This may look like science fiction, but it is real.  As soon as Amazon can get FAA rules and regulations in place, Amazon Prime Air could be making deliveries as early as 2015.

"Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos unveiled a new plan by Amazon to deliver packages to customer’s homes within 30 minutes using drones. The plan was announced on the CBS show 60 minutes." (Forbes)