Maurice Mountain is a retired lawyer in Washington, D.C. He developed a prototype for a device he calls the Presto Emergency Boat Ladder. His invention is a small folding ladder that attaches to the side of a boat to help people who fall into the water. Mr. Mountain plans to mass-produce his boat ladder.

He created his invention at a workshop called TechShop. Mr. Mountain says, "I think it encourages innovation. I think people who probably have had ideas rolling around in the back of their minds for years but have never had the opportunity to actually put them into production or even experiment with them would find this place wonderful. Members of TechShop use high-tech equipment to develop and produce ideas they have for inventions." Isabella Musachio manages a TechShop in Arlington, Virginia. She says the shop has many different kinds of equipment.

"TechShop is a do-it-yourself maker space. So when you come in we have all these different areas of the shop, and we have a metal shop, wood shop, lasers, 3D printers, electronics. I mean, we have so many different areas and we have all the equipment that is availahle to anybody above the age of 12."

Membership costs for TechShop start at just over $ 100 per month. Members are able to use costly machines including 3D modeling tools and laser cutters. Isabella Musachio says TechShop helps its members build their dreams.

"Our motto is 'build your dreams here' because you can really come in with just an idea, and then with the help of TechShop make that leap from an idea to building your project o, your prototype or even your business."

Jim Newton is the founder of TechShop. He first introduced the idea for the technology workshops at an arts and sciences event called Maker Faire in San Mateo, California in 2006. His idea attracted hundreds of members during that event, Now, there are eight TechShop locations in the U. S. In all, there are more than 6,000 members. Two more-TechShop locations in the cities of St. Louis and Look Angeles will be set up. What are the answers to this following set of questions: 1. Who designed something?
2. Is he an inventor by trade?
3. What was his job?
4. Does he still work at a firm?
5. What did he design?
6. What is that used on?
7. What for?
8. Did he invent this at home?
9. Where at?
10. What is the name of it?
11. How many locations does this shop have in the country?
12. How many people go there through the country?
13. Who is the founder of the place?
14. Do you need a membership to go?
15. How much is it?
16. Do you have to be a certain age?
17. How old?
18. What kind of tools do they have?
Answer: 1. Maurice Mountain
2. no
3. lawyer
4. no
5. Presto Emergency Boat Ladder prototype
6. a boat
7. to help people who fall into the water
8. no
9. a workshop
10. TechShop
11. Eight
12. more than 6,000
13. Jim Newton
14. yes
15. $ 100 per month
16. yes
17. 12
18. 3D modeling tools and laser cutters

It appears that the police now have a device that can read license plates and check if a car is unregistered, uninsured or stolen. We already know that National Security Agency can dip into your Facebook page and Google searches. And it seems that almost every store we go into these days wants your home phone number and ZIP code as part of any deal.

So when Edward Snowden -- now cooling his heels in Russia -- revealed the extent to which the NSA is spying on Americans, collecting data on phone calls we make, it's not as if we should have been surprised. We live in a world that George Orwell predicted in 1984. And that realization has caused sales of the 1949, dystopian novel to spike dramatically upward recently -- a 9,000% increase at one point on Amazon. com.

Comparisons between Orwell's novel about a tightly controlled totalitarian future ruled by the everywhere-present Big Brother and today are, in fact, quite similar. Here are a few of the most obvious ones.

Telescreens -- in the novel, nearly all public and private places have large TV screens that broadcast government propaganda , news and approved entertainment. But they are also two-way monitors that spy on citizens, private lives. Today websites like Facebook track our likes and dislikes, and governments and private individuals hack into our computers and find out what they want to know. Then there are the ever-present monitoring cameras that spy on the ordinary people as they go about their daily routine.

The endless war -- In Orwell's book, there's global war that has been going on seemingly forever, and as the book's hero, Winston Smith, realizes the enemy keeps changing. One week we're at war with Eastasia and friends with Eurasia. The next week, it's just the opposite. There seems little to distinguish the two opponents, and they are used primarily to keep the people of Oceania, where Smith lives, in a constant state of fear, thereby making disagreement unthinkable -- or punishable. Today we have the so-called war on terror, with no end in sight, a generalized societal fear, suspensionof certain civil liberties, and an ill-defined enemy who could be anywhere, and anything.

Newspeak -- the fictional, stripped-down English language, used to limit free thought. OMG (Oh my God), RU (Are you) serious? That's so FUBAR (Fucked Beyond Ail Recognition). LMAO (Laugh My Ass Off).

Memory hole -- this is the machine used in the book to change or disappear embarrassing documents. Paper shredders had been invented, but were hardly used when Orwell wrote his book, and the concept of wiping out a hard drive was years in the future. But the memory hole foretold both technologies.

So what's it all meant? In 1984, Winston Smith, after an intense round of "behavioral modification" -- read: torture-- learns to love Big Brother, and the difficult world he was born into. Jump forward to today, it seems we've willingly given up all sorts of freedoms, and much of our right to privacy. Fears of terrorism have a lot to do with this, but dizzying advances in technology, and the ubiquity of social media, play a big part.

There are those who say that if you don't have anything to hide, you have nothing to be afraid of. But the fact is, when a government agency can monitor everyone's phone calls, we have all become suspects. This is one of the most frightening aspects of our modem society. _ Unless you spend your life in a wilderness cabin, totally off the grid, there is simply no way the government won't have information about you stored away somewhere.

What this means, unfortunately, is that we are all Winston Smith. And Big Brother is the modem surveillance state. What are the answers to this following set of questions: 1. who is in Russia?
2. Is Orwell a writer?
3. what type of a novel is it?
4. what do stores want?
5. who can see your face book?
6. can telescreens spy?
7. what is memory hole?
8. what is an example?
9. what technology did the hole talk about?
10. what is used to limit free thinking?
11. what is it called?
12. is there a way for you to stop the government from getting your info?
13. who is the books hero?
14. where does he live?
15. what does he realize?
16. who are they at war with?
17. what is Big Brother?
18. What do people fear?
19. Were Paper shredders there when Orwell wrote the book?
20. who hacks into our computers?
Answer:
1. Edward Snowden
2. Yes
3. dystopian novel
4. home phone number and ZIP code
5. National Security Agency
6. Yes
7. machine used to change or disappear embarrassing documents.
8. Paper shredders
9. hard drive
10. the fictional, stripped-down English language
11. Newspeak
12. Unless you spend your life in a wilderness cabin, totally off the grid,
13. Winston Smith
14. Oceania
15. the enemy keeps changing
16. Eastasia and Eurasia
17. the modem surveillance state.
18. terrorism
19. Yes
20. governments and private individuals