An A+, but not in school!

Having spent a consider amount of time in tech support, I've always enjoyed helping people and being the bridge between the tech stuff that is making them crazy and getting things back to the way they should be.

I've never gotten any computer credential in the past, because back in the day a little experience in the real world went a long way.  That has changed now, I believe, so I'm currently pursuing getting an A+ CompTIA credential.

It'll be good to get up to date on a lot of things I haven't had a lot of experience with, such as printers, mobile, etc. and even in the learning materials I've run across so far it's been an interesting walk back through memory lane for a lot of things that tried to become standard but didn't work so well....anyone remember Windows Millenial version?  I didn't think so......

As a study aid, and in the interests of maybe helping anyone else who might be doing the same thing, I'm thinking of posting my notes here.....it'll be a good way to keep my nose to the grindstone, and burn some of this arcane stuff into my brain.

Still Kickin'

I'm still trying to resuscitate this thing.  The patient is stable but still unconscious....but recovery is in site.

Since settling into my new digs, a new lifestyle, it has taken a bit to get re-oriented.  Plus some of the links/interests have gone away or transformed.  Such is life.

I'm diving back into programming, but now some other areas are claiming my interest.  There's still the aviation angle, but I also am finding the whole "Tiny House" and sustainability movement interesting.  And how to survive in our New Economy.

Life remains interesting, perhaps too interesting.  Stay tuned for new links, new ideas, and hopefully the beginning of an audience.

Failing Upward, Or At Least A High-Paying Sideways

I see David Pogue, whom I took to task in a previous post, has moved from the New York Times to Yahoo.  I think this is perfectly in line with the new, dumbed-down Yahoo that now seems to contain more linkbait and spam than it did before.

There are a lot of surprising things in the world around us, but this doesn't seem to be one of them.

A Site Worth Checking Out

Have had this site - Neocities - bookmarked for a bit, haven't set up an account and played with it yet, however.  It's an attempt to get back to the old Geocities era, back before Web 2.0 ( or whatever version we are on now).

Sounds like a fun sandbox to play in - check it out if you have the chance.

Data and Reality

If you've been following events at all, you probably know that 64 year old Diana Nyad swam from Cuba to Key West last week.  And you've probably also heard the backlash now that some other people have said they looked at the GPS data from her swim and think she cheated.

I think this highlights one of the issues of our data-rich world.  We have become so enamored of crunching the numbers and simulating reality that we have lost any real connection to what that data represents.

The Earth is not a set of data points that refreshes on a regular basis.  It is a moving, swirling, growing and decaying non-stop show.  I'm not sure who the people are who are questioning Nyad's swim, but I am pretty certain of one thing...they haven't spent much time in the Florida Straits, or else they'd be familiar with the Gulf Stream.

I can't fault anyone for looking at the raw data and seeing her speed up, but you have to wonder why someone wouldn't stop to think about all the possibilities before opening their yap for the media.

My understanding of this affair currently is that independent oceanographers have agreed with Nyad's version of events.  So I'm guessing that this is now a non-story.

But one other thing convinces me that the attempt was free from cheating.  On video of Nyad's swim, we see a flotilla of boats and kayaks around her.

That's a lot of people to keep quiet if you are going to pull a fast one.

It's Time Again

Like many blogs, this one has had a dormant spell.  But it's not dead yet!

I think I made a mistake in the past by trying to make the focus too narrow and constricted.   I was only looking at ways to write and comment about what was going on in the "Maker" movement, which is both broad and narrow at the same time.  Broad in that it encompasses people following literally thousands of interests and passions, and narrow in that it is too small a subset of humanity to get a lot of traction.

I've relocated across the country, so with new digs come new ideas.....hopefully interesting enough to initiate a discussion.

Ray Bradbury

I see this morning that Ray Bradbury has left us.  I always wanted to meet Ray, not so much as a fan of his stories – to be honest, I haven’t read much of his sci-fi beyond what was required in high school – but I wanted to meet him just to say I did.

Most of the people who are “required reading” in our school English classes are as dead to us as Millard Fillmore.  Hemingway shot himself a year before I was born.  Steinbeck, Fitzgerald, and others all wrote and lived in a dusty past that is long gone even to my generation, and I’m no spring chicken.

When I lived in the L.A. area a few years back, Ray Bradbury was still showing up at libraries and book get-togethers around the Southern California region.  I just thought it would be cool to meet someone who is iconic enough to have made it into our English curriculum.  Kind of like a kid learning about the Civil War in history class and then finding out Abraham Lincoln was holding a Q & A session at the local branch library.

Most of the people we get exposed to in school are of the distant past, or public figures who aren’t accessible to us.  But there was Ray, who lived in the future but didn’t drive a car and didn’t fly in a plane until he was forced to in middle age, still out there talking about writing and imagination and creativity to anyone who was interested.

He was in love with what he did, and even if it’s not my particular “thing”, I still enjoyed reading some of his other essays and interviews, like Zen in the Art of Writing.

I came close a few times but unfortunately never had a chance to actually see Ray Bradbury.  For some reason it was one of those things we think we’ll always be able to do later, but never seems to happen.

When Ray was about 12, he went to a fair and saw a performer called “Mr. Electrico” who shot sparks out his fingertips.  He pointed at Ray and shot him with a bolt, saying “LIVE FOREVER!”.

I think Ray Bradbury will indeed live forever.