Spare time? Make the world smile!

Create acts of senseless beauty and random kindness.

There has been much discussion of what a post-scarcity world would look like.  One side of the debate posits that no one will create anything because they won't get paid for it.  You don't have to look far to find these dinosaurs in the world today.  The big conglomerates that produce the media and expending ever more energy trying to protect their "assets".   Come to think of it, when you look at it in those terms the energy budget could be thought of as upside down.  The media conglomerates expend great amounts of energy on defending their "territory" and ever decreasing amounts of energy on creating or finding new "sustenance".

The other side of the debate (as if there were only two sides to this debate, the world is not that black and white) posits that people will create for the sheer sake of creation.  The Free and Open Source movements are current examples that can be easily found in the world.  Thousands, if not hundreds of thousands or millions, of person-hours have been contributed for "free" to the creation of tremendous monuments like Linux.

I'll posit a third idea.

That people will spend their time, their most valuable commodity, in endeavours that will make them and other folks smile.

For example:



If it is not immediately apparent to you, I want to bring two things to your attention.

1. These students spend a LOT of time getting everyone together and then choreographing this event.
2. I'd bet that not a one of them made a dime from doing this.

 These students did this for two, to my mind, fundamental reasons.

1. Because it was fun.  It made everyone around them smile.  Thereby making themselves smile.  Endorphins are a tremendous thing!
2. Those that participated got some whuffie.  Those that organized got even more whuffie.

They created something that was unique in that moment.  They also created something that will last a very long time.  Years, decades from now there will still be students who talk about the day a dance troupe broke out in the cafeteria.  Those students that were there will tell their children, or grandchildren, about the day this happened.  Whether they danced or observed, they all participated.

Here's another example from Improv Everywhere.



Improv Everywhere began life doing flash mob type stuff.  They've really opened up their repertoire as of late.  The organizers may be making some money through advertising on YouTube, etc. but I doubt that it is a tremendous cash flow by any stretch of the imagination.  The real question is how do they get 207 people to do these things?  Look at the smiles on the faces of the folks around them when they freeze.  Listen to the applause at the end of the event.  Go back, I'll wait.

Not only that, but they can help a cause.  Here's one of their latest events.  Again, pay attention to the smiles on the uninformed participants faces.  Not everyone gets what is going on... but those that do initially cannot believe it is happening but have a fun time with it once they begin to understand.



I recently showed a friend of mine a YouTuber that calls himself MysteryGuitarMan.  Here's an example of one of his videos.




The fact that blew my friend away is that MysteryGuitarMan has 500,000 subscribers.  I'm one of them.  He asked how the dude made money.  Through advertising and t-shirt sales was my answer, but that's not the real point, is it?!?  The real point is that MysteryGuitarMan can influence 500,000 people.  Directly.  That's not a large number, but neither is it small.  That's the truly powerful idea here.

Of course, that also brings us back to the initial reason for this post.  Why does he do this?  Do you think he had the idea of doing this for the money when he started?  Doubtful.  Very doubtful.  MGM started doing this because it was fun and because he loved creating.  It grew from there, and he may be financially successful from it one day... but I am willing to bet that he'd create even if he weren't getting paid in the historical sense of that word.

Amazing time-lapse of STS-131

Air & Space has a beautiful time-lapse of the assembly of STS-131.

Frontier Lost

When Kennedy spoke "we do these things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard." and the desire to "send a man to the Moon and return him safely to the Earth" the space program was full of hope and although our country had numerous other problems and would get involved in a war in southeast Asia before accomplishing the task set before us by President Kennedy.  We did it.

It is amazing what our Nation can do when our collective will is applied.  I've had numerous people disagree with me as to the reasons why.  That the whole of the program from Mercury through Apollo would have never happened if the Cold War had not been in progress.  This idea saddens me.  That only war will drive us into space, that humanity's drive and desire for exploration and knowledge had absolutely nothing to do with it.  Seems that Hollywood is the primary driver of this idea, although they've not always been this way as posited by the article as well.

I've also given a fair amount of thought as to why most folks express only a limited interest in our path to the stars.  My personal conclusion is that we have lost our vision of the frontier.  We lost interest when we lost the ability to see the stars.  When there is a constant reminder each and every time you look up, it is hard to forget.  When you can't see the goal, it becomes almost impossible to remember why you're pushing so hard to get there.  If we cannot see, there is little reason to strive.

This is why I look at the stars.  This is why I hope to one day stand upon the shoulders of giants and push back the immutable and immeasurable darkness.

A Lifelong Dream

I have had a lifelong interest in humanity's reach for the stars.  I watched, awed, when Columbia launched in April 1981.  It was the first manned American space launch that I was old enough to remember and experience.  Since then I have seen several launches via television and every IMAX film about the space program.

I vowed to myself each time that I would make the physical trip to a launch one day.  Soon.

Then the end of the Shuttle program was announced, and I said to my wife with great emotion in my voice, "I'll never get to see a Shuttle launch."  Vowing to look at the schedule to see if there is any way.

Two flights remaining!

OUTSTANDING!

Ask the wife if she wants to visit Florida in September.  Take the travel trailer and camp for about a week on the east coast.  I know her answer, even before I ask.  She's a salt-water fish so she would agree to anything that would get her close to an ocean shore.

Manatee Hammock RV Park in Titusville, FL seems a good location and comes highly recommended.  As of Friday May 14th we have confirmed reservations for the days surrounding the launch of Discovery on STS-133!

Now, just awaiting causeway launch viewing tickets to go on sale.

Stay tuned for further updates. 

Not a very good post.  The excitement and elation I feel at the possibility of getting to experience a launch is almost overwhelming.

"I hate the Internet"

I'm sure he does.  The Internet allows for the quick dispersion of information to a very broad audience.  When your power depends upon secrecy and the ability to act without oversight then the Internet really does become your enemy.

Source article.

Apple vs Adobe -- Adobe thinks they've got the high road.

Here's Adobe's latest little add in Trash Flash wars.  Adobe apparently thinks that they've got the high ground in this little battle.  Before you begin thinking that I'm an Apple Fanboi you must know that I'm not real satisfied with the "Apple Ecosystem" right now.  My device is my device, my purchases are mine.  I don't necessarily like the idea that Apple thinks they still own my hardware and can do with the Apps I've purchased as they please... that's another discussion though.

In this case Adobe is trying to make everyone believe that they have everyone's best interests at heart.  "Hey, write once and run anywhere!"  Or so they say.  If you've been around the information technology scene for any length of time you would be rich if you had $10USD for every time some company had claimed that.  Don't think I need to name any names to make my point.

I call bullshit.  Adobe's got nothing new and like every other vendor that has tried the "write once, run anywhere" trick, they fail at it just as miserably.  Indeed, until virtualization and emulation are ubiquitous the idea of WORA is unreachable as far as I am concerned.

Adobe would only have the high ground, so to speak, if their technology actually worked as well as they purport it to work.  The thing is that Flash crashes quite often and is generally less-than-stable even when it is running "correctly."  Just because Adobe's tools supposedly have three million developers (and I discount those numbers as well, maybe that many folks have downloaded a package), that does not make them correct in this argument.  Might and numbers does not necessarily mean you win the debate.  If Adobe truly wanted the high-road in this battle they should say nothing, market nothing, and commit to making their product better.

This is what sticks in a lot of folks craw.  Apple does make a "better" product and is trying to ensure that product meets the needs of the consumers, not necessarily we geeks.  Flash is a crappy product, it was the best at doing what it did when nothing else scratched that itch... and Adobe has rested on it's laurels rather than making it better and competitive.  Adobe could fix their problems, but they'd rather get into a marketing tit-for-tat than expending their energies where they would be beneficial.

Nope, no mourning for Adobe.

Once is an accident... Twice is a coincidence... Three times will be marketing!

Apparently someone else has acquired a 4th generation iPhone.  Considering how well Apple normally keeps secrets, this must be a marketing campaign.  The timing against a couple of recent announcements, most specifically the fact that Android outsold iPhone in the last quarter, is too coincidental to ignore completely.

It will be interesting to see how Apple responds to this latest event based on the previous 4th gen iPhone "loss" event.

Although, it does look like my prediction about Apple using the A4 in the next iPhone is correct.  Or this could be misinformation.  Hey, wait a minute...

What if this is a complete disinformation and sleight-of-hand trick by Apple?  What if both of these were not only planned events, but are intended to make us all think in one particular direction about the inevitable announcement of new iPhone hardware at WWDC'10?  Jobs then whips out a completely different piece of hardware, nothing like these "leaked" devices.

Nah, couldn't happen.  If any company on the planet could pull a stunt like that I'd have to believe it's Apple.  However, having been in the employ of companies for a couple of decades I have to temper that thinking with the proverbial 5lb bag-of-salt.  No organization on the planet has their stuff wired tight enough to pull off a stunt like that.  Although, I'd love to see it happen like that.

Just a few more weeks and we'll all know for sure.  One way or the other!

Visualization of Facebook Privacy Loss

A great visualization of how Facebook is changing the game on its users.  Get out now!

For when...

... the asteroid comes.

The Yawn Hypothesis

I have posted before about my Yawn Hypothesis.

To further expand on this hypothesis.

The Yawnion was generated by the last sentient alive immediately before the heat death of the Universe in our far distant future.  This sentient stretched, yawned, and ceased to exist thereby creating the Yawnion that is traveling backwards through time.

A brief history of programming languages

If you ever wondered why there are so many computer languages out there... and the history of how they came to be.  You should read this.

Cold Turkey Facebook

I have recently left Facebook over numerous changes in their policies regarding data I had shared with my social network through their site.  A lot of folks have expressed that they believe I am being overly sensitive about the situation, a few have accused me of outright paranoia.

Well, as an information security professional shouldn't I be a bit paranoid?

But it's really not about paranoia.  It is about privacy, the right to ensure the data that I want to share with people is protected from disclosure to third parties that I don't want having the information.  Facebook has decided they are the arbiters of my personal information on their site, not me.

For those folks who believe me sensitive, or even paranoid, here's a good article that further describes reasons why I left and so should you.

Regulate 'em!

I've had enough. Normally I'm a fairly lasseiz-faire kinda guy, but the telecom, cable, and Internet Provider companies have had a free ride long enough.

The FCC took a beating in court over trying to ensure that consumers could use Comcast's network as a network, and Comcast danced about it. So the FCC uses it's "Nuclear Option" and announces that it will re-classify the ISPs as telecommunications providers... which causes much crying, wailing, and gnashing of teeth.

Well, frankly, good for the FCC! I honestly believe that on a fair-and-level playing field, when corporations are trying to make a profit in a reasonable fashion that government has no role in the affairs of business.

However, when business starts to try to screw over customers then maybe its time for government to step in and assure the consumer is treated fairly. I have no doubt that a lot of pro-business folks are virtually screaming at their monitors at this point. Those same folks are also the ones screaming "you have a choice" at their monitors. They're wrong and misinformed. For a lot of folks there is only one telephone provider, one Internet provider that serves their area. If that one provider decides to block traffic on their network then the consumer has no choice. Accept a less-than completely useful Internet connection, or no Internet connection at all. Sure, that's a choice, but its not the lasseiz-faire free choice it should be.

What most do not seem to understand is that in the Information Age access to information is a fundamental human right. The Internet providers want to charge for every bit at the expense of the end-user. You may not think this affects you, until you can't get the information you need or the provider has made it prohibitively expensive to do so.