I've been doing computer things for a long time.
I remember when my brother received a Commodore 64 computer for his birthday one year. He was so excited! It came with a cassette tape drive and we would spend 30 minutes loading the Blue Max space shuttle trench run game so that he could play it and I could watch and that I could play it sometimes. It was a fun game, but it was limited in what you can do and the boss at the end was very hard to defeat! We had spent many hours playing on our original Atari game system. Space Invaders was my favorite because I had become so time synced with the space invaders that I could sit and play it indefinitely on my joystick and big console TV at home.
After I had my own Commodore 64 in college I remember using a heat transfer printer to print my essay for a college class. I had typed up, saved, edited, and printed my college class essay using GeoWorks software which was early "what you see is what you get" document editing. I remember arguing with my professor that doublespaced and 14 point font on heat transfer paper was the same as doublespaced on a typewriter.
I remember another professor at University of Central Florida bragging about how she had gotten a 1 MB hard drive and how it was so big and how excited she was.
Last timeI checked I carry 2 TB of storage in my pocket. Wow!
I remember using America Online dial-up. I remember using CompuServe on dial-up. I remember dialing into servers using the telephone line and downloading software that was posted from other sources.
I remember being my apartment in Orlando while attending University of Central Florida and calling my girlfriend (eventually my wife) and her mother iand playing for them the three voice harmony that I had programmed using "peek" and "poke" commands in my Commodore 64. It was an amazing achievement on my part but probably didn't rank very high in other people's eyes. They laughed and were encouraging. And my wife has continued to be encouraging ever since then.
Now I tinker on my phone and make it do cool things. I try to convince my iPad in my Apple iPhone from work to do cool things and often I succeed but sometimes I'm blocked by my employer's security.
I love tinkering with computers, they're so much fun!
Saturday, May 28, 2022
Sunday, May 22, 2022
Hashtags ~
I'm a nerd. I do computer things. I read about computer things. I tried different computer things.
When I was a support specialist where I work I was heavily into using and adapting homegrown database applications. We used Microsoft Access software to interpret and analyze data. A lot of people pooh-pooh Microsoft access but it can be a powerful start to some pretty major databases.
In the real world hashtags were started on social media to make it easier to find posts that were similar to each other. Nerds started using hashtags to tag their data and be able to search across systems like Twitter and Facebook and come up with trending subjects based on the way the data was tagged with the hashtag.
That use of hashtags was ruined by comedians on Saturday Night Live and other venues that made fun of them and encouraged the use of hashtags as commentary instead of data tagging. You can see this when someone posts my new dog #betterthanyours #yourdogsucks #mydogcanbeatupyourdog.
I got in trouble using hashtags once at work. I made a log entry about an event that had happened that day. I hashtagged it so that I could gather data over time on this sort of behavior. Because the log was kept in a system that is seen nationwide someone on high saw my entry and thought I was making commentary about their performance that night. And they called me and demanded that I remove the entire log entry telling me that I was being unprofessional and foolish. I laughed it off and left it the way it was. I never got in trouble over it. But that just highlighted to me several years ago how the nerd concept of tagging data had been corrupted by the comedians and people looking to sarcastically comment without actually saying what they were thinking.
Now I use hashtags to tag things on my social media like this week's discussion topics. I use hashtags to tag text files and move them around in my automatic system of capturing data. I use hashtags to tag posts like this one. They're not always a pound symbol like the #, sometimes there a utility like that little tilde thing at the top of this post.
But hashtags are useful! They're not always smart alec comments by people who don't want to say what they're actually saying. Or they want to insult others in a cute way. I tend to use hashtags for what they were designed for. But like everything else it has multiple uses and depending on the person of the situation they could mean almost anything!
I hope you tag something today with a hashtag. Good luck!
When I was a support specialist where I work I was heavily into using and adapting homegrown database applications. We used Microsoft Access software to interpret and analyze data. A lot of people pooh-pooh Microsoft access but it can be a powerful start to some pretty major databases.
In the real world hashtags were started on social media to make it easier to find posts that were similar to each other. Nerds started using hashtags to tag their data and be able to search across systems like Twitter and Facebook and come up with trending subjects based on the way the data was tagged with the hashtag.
That use of hashtags was ruined by comedians on Saturday Night Live and other venues that made fun of them and encouraged the use of hashtags as commentary instead of data tagging. You can see this when someone posts my new dog #betterthanyours #yourdogsucks #mydogcanbeatupyourdog.
I got in trouble using hashtags once at work. I made a log entry about an event that had happened that day. I hashtagged it so that I could gather data over time on this sort of behavior. Because the log was kept in a system that is seen nationwide someone on high saw my entry and thought I was making commentary about their performance that night. And they called me and demanded that I remove the entire log entry telling me that I was being unprofessional and foolish. I laughed it off and left it the way it was. I never got in trouble over it. But that just highlighted to me several years ago how the nerd concept of tagging data had been corrupted by the comedians and people looking to sarcastically comment without actually saying what they were thinking.
Now I use hashtags to tag things on my social media like this week's discussion topics. I use hashtags to tag text files and move them around in my automatic system of capturing data. I use hashtags to tag posts like this one. They're not always a pound symbol like the #, sometimes there a utility like that little tilde thing at the top of this post.
But hashtags are useful! They're not always smart alec comments by people who don't want to say what they're actually saying. Or they want to insult others in a cute way. I tend to use hashtags for what they were designed for. But like everything else it has multiple uses and depending on the person of the situation they could mean almost anything!
I hope you tag something today with a hashtag. Good luck!
Monday, May 16, 2022
Hashtags ~
I'm a nerd. I do computer things. I read about computer things. I tried different computer things.
When I was a support specialist where I work I was heavily into using and adapting homegrown database applications. We used Microsoft Access software to interpret and analyze data. A lot of people pooh-pooh Microsoft access but it can be a powerful start to some pretty major databases.
In the real world hashtags were started on social media to make it easier to find posts that were similar to each other. Nerds started using hashtags to tag their data and be able to search across systems like Twitter and Facebook and come up with trending subjects based on the way the data was tagged with the hashtag.
That use of hashtags was ruined by comedians on Saturday Night Live and other venues that made fun of them and encouraged the use of hashtags as commentary instead of data tagging. You can see this when someone posts my new dog #betterthanyours #yourdogsucks #mydogcanbeatupyourdog.
I got in trouble using hashtags once at work. I made a log entry about an event that had happened that day. I hashtagged it so that I could gather data over time on this sort of behavior. Because the log was kept in a system that is seen nationwide someone on high saw my entry and thought I was making commentary about their performance that night. And they called me and demanded that I remove the entire log entry telling me that I was being unprofessional and foolish. I laughed it off and left it the way it was. I never got in trouble over it. But that just highlighted to me several years ago how the nerd concept of tagging data had been corrupted by the comedians and people looking to sarcastically comment without actually saying what they were thinking.
Now I use hashtags to tag things on my social media like this week's discussion topics. I use hashtags to tag text files and move them around in my automatic system of capturing data. I use hashtags to tag posts like this one. They're not always a pound symbol like the #, sometimes there a utility like that little tilde thing at the top of this post.
But hashtags are useful! They're not always smart alec comments by people who don't want to say what they're actually saying. Or they want to insult others in a cute way. I tend to use hashtags for what they were designed for. But like everything else it has multiple uses and depending on the person of the situation they could mean almost anything!
I hope you tag something today with a hashtag. Good luck!
When I was a support specialist where I work I was heavily into using and adapting homegrown database applications. We used Microsoft Access software to interpret and analyze data. A lot of people pooh-pooh Microsoft access but it can be a powerful start to some pretty major databases.
In the real world hashtags were started on social media to make it easier to find posts that were similar to each other. Nerds started using hashtags to tag their data and be able to search across systems like Twitter and Facebook and come up with trending subjects based on the way the data was tagged with the hashtag.
That use of hashtags was ruined by comedians on Saturday Night Live and other venues that made fun of them and encouraged the use of hashtags as commentary instead of data tagging. You can see this when someone posts my new dog #betterthanyours #yourdogsucks #mydogcanbeatupyourdog.
I got in trouble using hashtags once at work. I made a log entry about an event that had happened that day. I hashtagged it so that I could gather data over time on this sort of behavior. Because the log was kept in a system that is seen nationwide someone on high saw my entry and thought I was making commentary about their performance that night. And they called me and demanded that I remove the entire log entry telling me that I was being unprofessional and foolish. I laughed it off and left it the way it was. I never got in trouble over it. But that just highlighted to me several years ago how the nerd concept of tagging data had been corrupted by the comedians and people looking to sarcastically comment without actually saying what they were thinking.
Now I use hashtags to tag things on my social media like this week's discussion topics. I use hashtags to tag text files and move them around in my automatic system of capturing data. I use hashtags to tag posts like this one. They're not always a pound symbol like the #, sometimes there a utility like that little tilde thing at the top of this post.
But hashtags are useful! They're not always smart alec comments by people who don't want to say what they're actually saying. Or they want to insult others in a cute way. I tend to use hashtags for what they were designed for. But like everything else it has multiple uses and depending on the person of the situation they could mean almost anything!
I hope you tag something today with a hashtag. Good luck!
Tuesday, May 10, 2022
Accepting reality ~
So one of the things I've had to learn to do is accept things the way they are. I've always hated that phrase "it is what it is", but it's true.
What's funny is as I have learned to accept things the way they are I'm learning how many people think that means it's never going to be any different. And that's not what I'm approaching. That's not the take that I'm trying to have on things.
I was trained to control my environment around me. To predict things that might happen and be prepared for those things. And when I couldn't do that it would make me angry.
As part of my anger reduction program I am committing to less. I am looking at the way things are and accepting that this is what is right now. And then working from here to either make it something that I want it to be or letting go and letting it go down its own path to wherever it's going without me.
It's a challenge, because most everybody around me has an opinion and wants to see the way things should be. People are quick to get worked up when things are not the way they expect them. I have that happen to me a lot and as I'm getting older and more experienced I'm able to see that while it may not be exactly the way I want it now it will be in a little bit OR it doesn't need to be and I turn to something else or in a different direction.
But I don't just decide that it's never going to be any different when I accept the way things are. I'm trying to find a footing in the undertow of life so that I can stand and begin to direct my efforts in a more fruitful way. More fruitful than the anger and frustration that I lived in for so long.
It's ironic that this is all very frustrating for me. But I am learning, which is good. I was taught to never stop learning.
And I haven't.
What's funny is as I have learned to accept things the way they are I'm learning how many people think that means it's never going to be any different. And that's not what I'm approaching. That's not the take that I'm trying to have on things.
I was trained to control my environment around me. To predict things that might happen and be prepared for those things. And when I couldn't do that it would make me angry.
As part of my anger reduction program I am committing to less. I am looking at the way things are and accepting that this is what is right now. And then working from here to either make it something that I want it to be or letting go and letting it go down its own path to wherever it's going without me.
It's a challenge, because most everybody around me has an opinion and wants to see the way things should be. People are quick to get worked up when things are not the way they expect them. I have that happen to me a lot and as I'm getting older and more experienced I'm able to see that while it may not be exactly the way I want it now it will be in a little bit OR it doesn't need to be and I turn to something else or in a different direction.
But I don't just decide that it's never going to be any different when I accept the way things are. I'm trying to find a footing in the undertow of life so that I can stand and begin to direct my efforts in a more fruitful way. More fruitful than the anger and frustration that I lived in for so long.
It's ironic that this is all very frustrating for me. But I am learning, which is good. I was taught to never stop learning.
And I haven't.
Wednesday, May 4, 2022
About writing in books ~
When I was growing up I was taught to take to care of books. My mother taught me at an early age that any book, either from the library or from our home bookshelf, should be taken care of. No bending it back so you break the spine. No folding over pages to use as a bookmark or two. And definitely no writing in the books. Because we went to the library the books typically belong to the library and you're not supposed to write on.
In school I was taught not to write in books. The textbooks were bought by the school system and passed out and assigned to each student. I was taught how to use paper bags from the grocery store to cover the books and then draw and write on the paper bag cover but never on the actual book. Anybody who actually wrote in the book ended up costing their family money when the school made them replace it as damaged goods.
Then I got to college. Everybody wrote in the books except the people that had to sell their books back at the end of the semester. That was the age of the copy machine and I would spend hours copying pages from my own textbooks that I had spent a lot of my parents' money on to get for class so that I could highlight and scribbl notes on the paper instead of in the book. The further I got in college the less I cared and I started writing in the books and highlighting everything that I wanted to try and remember. But it made me feel guilty and sad that I was defacing a book.
I remember when I would get a book that had folded over corners where other people had marked where they were it would offend me. I would get angry because they weren't taking care of a community resource! I would fold them back and be irritated while I read those 2 to 4 pages and then I would move on through the rest of the book.
When I got a book that had writing in it I was really upset! It distracted me from what I was reading. I would wonder why the person wrote that there. Then I would spend time trying to figure that out and trying to figure out what was so important.
E-books are awesome but there is a feature that I do not like at all. In the Kindle e-book system will show you what's been highlighted by others and how many times it's been highlighted. I turn that off! I don't usually want to know what anybody else did with the book, not in school or whatever, I want a pristine book to do what I want. But I do enjoy highlighting things in my own copies of the e-books and I enjoy making some notes on them. And sometimes actually go back and look at those highlights in months!
Recently I was in a church service where we had a guest speaker at our church. As part of his message that night he talked about how when he met a Christian he knew what kind of Christian they were from the condition of their Bible. He told a story about Christians who have Bibles in the back window of their vehicle. A story about Christians who carry a nice pretty leather Bible but the pages are not worn and there is no usage look about the book. Then he told a story about a woman that had died and he got the look in her Bible that she used. He said that she use that Bible every day. The pages were very worn. The pages had writing in the margins all throughout the Bible. And he could tell that she was a good Christian because her Bible was well-worn.
I use a Bible app on my devices to read the Bible. I do some highlighting in my Bible app. I do some notetaking in my Bible app. But for the most part you're never going to see a whole bunch of notes in the physical Bible owned by me. I guess that makes me a bad Christian in some peoples' eyes.
But I take care of books. I had several bookshelves full of paperback books that I've read over the years in the basement. One of my sons explained it to to my wife that those books were kind of like deer heads on the wall for hunters. They were my trophies showing my accomplishment to others. And to myself. Memory joggers of something fun and accomplished.
I got rid of those books. I got tired of them taking up space and gathering dust. But I took pictures of every one of the covers before I got rid of them because I like my trophies.
I don't like writing in books.
In school I was taught not to write in books. The textbooks were bought by the school system and passed out and assigned to each student. I was taught how to use paper bags from the grocery store to cover the books and then draw and write on the paper bag cover but never on the actual book. Anybody who actually wrote in the book ended up costing their family money when the school made them replace it as damaged goods.
Then I got to college. Everybody wrote in the books except the people that had to sell their books back at the end of the semester. That was the age of the copy machine and I would spend hours copying pages from my own textbooks that I had spent a lot of my parents' money on to get for class so that I could highlight and scribbl notes on the paper instead of in the book. The further I got in college the less I cared and I started writing in the books and highlighting everything that I wanted to try and remember. But it made me feel guilty and sad that I was defacing a book.
I remember when I would get a book that had folded over corners where other people had marked where they were it would offend me. I would get angry because they weren't taking care of a community resource! I would fold them back and be irritated while I read those 2 to 4 pages and then I would move on through the rest of the book.
When I got a book that had writing in it I was really upset! It distracted me from what I was reading. I would wonder why the person wrote that there. Then I would spend time trying to figure that out and trying to figure out what was so important.
E-books are awesome but there is a feature that I do not like at all. In the Kindle e-book system will show you what's been highlighted by others and how many times it's been highlighted. I turn that off! I don't usually want to know what anybody else did with the book, not in school or whatever, I want a pristine book to do what I want. But I do enjoy highlighting things in my own copies of the e-books and I enjoy making some notes on them. And sometimes actually go back and look at those highlights in months!
Recently I was in a church service where we had a guest speaker at our church. As part of his message that night he talked about how when he met a Christian he knew what kind of Christian they were from the condition of their Bible. He told a story about Christians who have Bibles in the back window of their vehicle. A story about Christians who carry a nice pretty leather Bible but the pages are not worn and there is no usage look about the book. Then he told a story about a woman that had died and he got the look in her Bible that she used. He said that she use that Bible every day. The pages were very worn. The pages had writing in the margins all throughout the Bible. And he could tell that she was a good Christian because her Bible was well-worn.
I use a Bible app on my devices to read the Bible. I do some highlighting in my Bible app. I do some notetaking in my Bible app. But for the most part you're never going to see a whole bunch of notes in the physical Bible owned by me. I guess that makes me a bad Christian in some peoples' eyes.
But I take care of books. I had several bookshelves full of paperback books that I've read over the years in the basement. One of my sons explained it to to my wife that those books were kind of like deer heads on the wall for hunters. They were my trophies showing my accomplishment to others. And to myself. Memory joggers of something fun and accomplished.
I got rid of those books. I got tired of them taking up space and gathering dust. But I took pictures of every one of the covers before I got rid of them because I like my trophies.
I don't like writing in books.
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