Natasha Bishop
Jen Q.Public is the voice of the citizen addressing issues impacting citizens as it relates to government, education,emergency management and public safety to determine how we can use analytics to create a smarter safer planet.
April 23, 2015, 10:55 p.m. Dear analytics diary, Something really interesting is happening these past few nights. It has been eerily silent with not even a siren in the distance. Even the rats are still. It's as if everyone knows that the ever-present Lieutenant Analytics is on high alert ensuring the scene never becomes a crime scene.
May 1, 6:38 a.m. Last night I had a really strange dream. The Social Services office asked me to pinky swear that a claim I was filing was accurate. "Well, yeah." Did they think I looked like someone who would file a false claim?
May 7, 2015, 8:07 p.m. Dear diary, I received three graduation invitations this week. While I'm excited to watch these young adults receive their degrees, I can't help but wonder if Johnny, the young man who works at the convenience store on the corner, would ever go back to college.
May 14, 9:01 p.m. It's been raining cats, dogs, elephants and zebras-the entire zoo, actually. One of the staffers even came in "ready" for a flood. But I will take the rain. Though the tornado sirens went off last weekend, we were spared any major damage in our neighborhood.
May 21, 11:21 p.m. The Internet and advanced technologies such as live, streaming apps and wi-fi in planes have created exciting possibilities, but these advances also pose security and data-overload challenges. We do live in scary times. For instance, I have been counting down the days to my next vacation since last year's vacation.
May 28, 10:58 p.m. You hear a lot of "smarter this" and "smarter that" discussion these days about smarter care, a smarter planet and smarter cities. Recently, Bernard Marr wrote about how the Internet of Things creates smarter cities. Smarter cities are now managing traffic patterns, parking, lighting and even garbage trucks that know when garbage is ready for disposal.
June 4, 7:23 p.m. Dear diary: I can still remember the days when everyone turned their noses up at online degrees. I may be dating myself with that idea, but thankfully this is just my diary. Today I look at my daughter doing research and even writing papers on her phone.
June 12, 2015 Dear diary, I laughed heartily when my Grandpa Ray announced that he was done with "these modern-day banks" and vowed to put all his money right back under his mattress. I chalked it up to the generation gap.
June 19, 6:15 a.m. Dear diary, This crazy week was topped off with a ticket for sliding through the red light at the Tree Stone intersection. The light was really yellow-well, yellowish. And I did not see the camera.
June 25, 10:03 p.m. Dear diary, These days, it sometimes appears that the biggest danger we face is change. As we innovate and become more technologically advanced, criminals are updating their tactics too, and the constantly evolving nature of threats seemingly poses the greatest challenge to citizens and governments.
July 9, 10:30 p.m. Dear diary, I just saw the latest movie in the Jurassic Park series-and I can't help but think that summer blockbusters are becoming a tad predictable. Interestingly though, whether it's experimental hybrid dinosaurs, killer cyborgs or the "big one" earthquake, poor emergency planning and management trigger excessive damage, chaos and loss of life.
July 17, 7:03 a.m. Dear diary: Recently, while vacationing with my selfie stick on overdrive, I took a selfie on the tour bus-several selfies, in fact, because I wanted to get it right. To my horror (and my later amusement), the passengers behind me photo-bombed every picture by making faces!
July 23, 2015, 10:53 p.m. Dear diary, Last weekend I took my nephews to the amusement park and the bumper cars were the highlight of the outing; unlicensed teenagers behind the wheel can be characters. What made me chuckle really hard, though, were their claims that hackers had stalled their bumper cars whenever they got stuck on the side rail or bumped each other.
July 30, 7:30 p.m. Dear diary, I picked up some good whodunit books for my vacation and long flight today. Reading the inside covers, I couldn't help but wonder if these teams of detectives, forensic scientists and intelligence agents are really able to dedicate so much time to solving each crime and exposing each conspiracy.
August 6, 2015, 7:09 p.m. Dear diary, The cyber threat harbinger reared its ugly head today-again. I lost half of my hair, and I know I lost my entire workday. You see, I went into the office today for meetings, which requires a one-hour drive in traffic.
August 13, 2015, 11:09 p.m. Dear diary, I am so afraid my child will run herself ragged trying to balance school and a full-time job. I went to summer school only once in my entire college career and promised I'd never do it again.
August 20, 7:13 p.m. Dear diary, I can't believe 10 years have passed since we were reeling from the effects of Hurricane Katrina. Many news outlets are sharing stories about the anniversary of the tragic event, and President Obama is planning to visit New Orleans.
September 3, 2:30 PM Dear diary, The i2 Summit Twitter stream was a fire hose of great insights and useful nuggets on how together we-citizens, government agencies and the private sector-can create a safer planet. A couple of tweets on financial crime, however, caught my attention-specifically, a tweet from : Wow!
