I have to write this. The reason, mostly, is that I wrote 2 technical posts in a row...mostly.
But, I am happy. The papers say I shouldn't be, yet my life seems more full than it ever has. I feel an over-whelming sense of opportunity in the air. Whether I am or not, I feel 10-times smarter than I did a decade ago.
I have a really nice girl that likes me a lot. I'm working on my health. I have a roof over my head (a fairly recent development...the house was there, but the roof was not).
I'm not dead yet and I've done almost all the things I could want in this life. I could break into the desiderata, but I'll just say: be happy and enjoy the ride around the big, yellow star.
Agent::Super Lazy
O.K., maybe I'm not super-lazy - I at least try to keep up appearances, learn some code and apply it.
(Also, 'super' would mean that I excel at something)
What I'm talking about is my lack of desire to learn AJAX (asynchronous javascript and XML) or mess around with installing any PHP junk on my webserver. And, by that highly jargon-laden bit, I mean to talk about the piece of javascript of code I use to display my blog on my website.
I was using a service that wasn't very malleable or reliable to pull in my blog's RSS feed and assemble it in an HTML format that would look sorta nice. I just happened to check my site and noticed they stopped doing it - boom, out of the blue.
After doing yet another search for a service that looked something other than awful, while entertaining the notion that I might have to buckle down and learn something, I found FeedSweep (it's free to register). And all was wonderful in the world again.
After playing with it a bit, I found that it allows for almost complete customization (with a couple of reasonable quirks) using CSS! Man, they saved my bacon. Anyway, I hope you like the new look if you are reading this from my main site and that this has helped at least one code-junkie/blog-meister somewhere.
(Also, 'super' would mean that I excel at something)
What I'm talking about is my lack of desire to learn AJAX (asynchronous javascript and XML) or mess around with installing any PHP junk on my webserver. And, by that highly jargon-laden bit, I mean to talk about the piece of javascript of code I use to display my blog on my website.
I was using a service that wasn't very malleable or reliable to pull in my blog's RSS feed and assemble it in an HTML format that would look sorta nice. I just happened to check my site and noticed they stopped doing it - boom, out of the blue.
After doing yet another search for a service that looked something other than awful, while entertaining the notion that I might have to buckle down and learn something, I found FeedSweep (it's free to register). And all was wonderful in the world again.
After playing with it a bit, I found that it allows for almost complete customization (with a couple of reasonable quirks) using CSS! Man, they saved my bacon. Anyway, I hope you like the new look if you are reading this from my main site and that this has helped at least one code-junkie/blog-meister somewhere.
In Soviet Russia, Computer Use You
I've been teaching people how to use computers (and sometimes build them) for a while now. Maybe not so long in the grand scheme of things, but enough time to make an observation.
I've analogized to my victims- er, initiates -that computers are just tools. They are very complicated, yes, but still... This is to diminish the perceived power (and subsequent fear of such) and allow the learner to relax into the ease of use.
However, I think the computer is one of the first tools to be so responsive to its wielder. I think this is the problem. You see, we, our society, aren't even used to a real dialog with fellow humans. Talking often results in a one-way diatribe with no valid connection.
When you use a complex system or tool like this, it asks questions of you. I remember one of the early Windows screensavers asking, "Where do you want to go today?" That can be a toughy. We also don't really know what we want anymore in our particular brand of Western culture.
As we work with these systems, we are teaching them how we draw, write, move. Those of us generating content and tagging it, in a local and external sense, are creating entities cell by cell.
This is the scary thing to people. If there is nothing there, if the soul is undeveloped from a kind of orchestrated atrophy, the system acts as a mirror to that void.
Though I have a feeling that sense of emptiness may be a skewed perception as well. We all have a history, talents and assets. And now we have the tools to make real connections - to rebuild ourselves and our confidence - to forge a collective consciousness more apparent than our dreams convey.
For what it's worth, I think we are on the verge of an awakening. That is all I wanted to say.
I've analogized to my victims- er, initiates -that computers are just tools. They are very complicated, yes, but still... This is to diminish the perceived power (and subsequent fear of such) and allow the learner to relax into the ease of use.
However, I think the computer is one of the first tools to be so responsive to its wielder. I think this is the problem. You see, we, our society, aren't even used to a real dialog with fellow humans. Talking often results in a one-way diatribe with no valid connection.
When you use a complex system or tool like this, it asks questions of you. I remember one of the early Windows screensavers asking, "Where do you want to go today?" That can be a toughy. We also don't really know what we want anymore in our particular brand of Western culture.
As we work with these systems, we are teaching them how we draw, write, move. Those of us generating content and tagging it, in a local and external sense, are creating entities cell by cell.
This is the scary thing to people. If there is nothing there, if the soul is undeveloped from a kind of orchestrated atrophy, the system acts as a mirror to that void.
Though I have a feeling that sense of emptiness may be a skewed perception as well. We all have a history, talents and assets. And now we have the tools to make real connections - to rebuild ourselves and our confidence - to forge a collective consciousness more apparent than our dreams convey.
For what it's worth, I think we are on the verge of an awakening. That is all I wanted to say.
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