Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit.
e.e. cummings
“ABC’s” in child development
blogging
R.O.A.D. “scholar”
The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army, or in an office.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
During my career in the Navy, “Retired On Active Duty” was a derogatory label for someone whose ambition was to do the least amount of real work possible. While applicable to junior personnel, it primarily was a pejorative for those holding some seniority in rank, but were unmotivated, in terms of their duties or responsibilities. Generally, lacking in ethics or integrity to perform their jobs well, these “ROAD scholars” would perform the bare minimum, so to avoid scrutiny from their superiors. In my experience, I have known a couple that kept that charade for years – impeding others trying to earn promotion. Promotion was based not only on one’s job performance but also if there were sufficient slots in a particular career field open. Fo those ROAD warriors in senior positions, their refusal to retire or promote would cause some very worthy professionals to stagnate – be career-limited and mandatorily retired.
Have you encountered someone who is filling a position, that they no longer – if they ever did – are performing the duties and responsibilities of that position? If we are talking politics, that critique probably fits most of the representatives and senators (State and Congressional) who have been in office more than 12 to 16 years. But have you encountered, in civil service or in education, a person whose seniority seems to get them a pass when it comes to performing the job?
Is integrity a victim of the times?
Today, the American spirit of “can-do”, ingenuity, teamwork and integrity is stressed to near-breaking. With the pandemic with us likely for another year or two, the old way of doing everything is changing.
Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody’s going to know whether you did it or not.
Oprah Winfrey
Social, political, and economic change we are living through (suffering) in the 21st Century affects everyone. It began long before we were mandated to remain at least six feet apart, and limit large gatherings. Technology has made it no longer necessary to have in- person, work or customer relationships. When both the service- provider and the served remain insulated from one-another by web ordering, email, text messaging, or video- conferencing, the human connection, which may be between a doctor and a patient, teacher and student, account administrator and vendor, or state official and a constituent, is absent.
This is easily illustrated with a few scenarios. A fairly new patient of a doctor makes an appointment with the physician. In the interim, the doctor moves his private practice to a larger corporate entity. And then the COVID quarantine terminates all in-person office access for the foreseeable future. Efforts to obtain service are prevented by an inaccessible web portal, and using a telephone system to request assistance with the portal, demands up to thirty minutes or more to remain on-hold. The clinic’s email server notifies the client of important information, but cannot be read using the portal, similarly frustrated by a lack of a user passcode.
A government agency responsible for the healthcare of millions of military veterans and their families comes under scrutiny for very public and shocking displays of veterans committing suicide in hospital lobbies, delays in receiving evaluation for what veterans believe service-connected disabilities, and media reports of ill veterans dying while on waiting lists for treatment – while the facilities receive bonuses and accolades for service efficiency. Media and Congressional investigations reveal that managers were complicit in altering records and rescheduling patients. Leadership changed. Procedural changes were promised. Some workers were censured. Legislation was voted upon. Time will tell if the agency culture has focused on integrity.
A state agency that oversees licensing of healthcare workers contracts with vendors to manage the process of coordinating examinees seeking licensing exams. The same agency approves the schools offering the training, the sites where these exams may be performed, and verify each candidate has met the requirements to be licensed. The vendor is responsible for collecting the test fees, order and disseminate the exam materials, and send the test results to the state agency. while the contracted evaluators establish relationships with the training schools, coordinate test schedules with the vendor and the client schools, and perform the certification exams. The evaluators submit invoices for payment to the vendor. Since the licensing examinations are only a minor contribution to each vendors’ core business, but require substantial manual work, the vendor’s commitment to an efficient operation is of key importance. With antiquated systems, a remote workforce, an already burdened office staff and aloof management, the unresponsiveness of the organization is now a factor to consider for any future business.
The foundation stones for a balanced success are honesty, character, integrity, faith, love and loyalty.
Zig Ziglar
Operations that, under normal conditions may be hindered by bureaucracy, are only worsened by a remote workforce, COVID safety precautions, antiquated processes, and office politics. This is exactly where professional integrity should be the most important feature of any servicer -customer relationship. When the customer (other departments, clients, or outside agents) seeks status on an invoice, or a functional responsibility of that servicer, the expectation is to have an answer as to when payment should be expected. In some organizations, answers and follow-up can be difficult to obtain. People may respond emotionally, who have neglected or erred in their duties. They may respond by shifting blame instead of seeking remedies. It is a successful work environment where obtaining results or remedies and not fixing blame, exist.
When this tendency to assign blame is a characteristic of the organization, it is a leadership issue If the leader does not set the tone, as Zig Ziglar states. ” (t)he foundation stones for a balanced success are honesty, character, integrity, faith, love and loyalty.” the organization suffers. In the present economy, there are always alternatives to an inefficient or poor business model. In the private sector, new enterprises or new joint-ventures can offer more efficient processing. In the public sector, political appointments do change oversight, and vendor funding, and state charters can be revoked.
Integrity matters.
politics and Pine Sol
The slightest whiff of pine oil cleanser is enough to bring the Navy instantly back to life for me. One of my earliest memories of military service was as a Recruit, the culture-shock of boot camp where civilians were turned into military – Sailors, in my case. We were daily required to clean our barracks top to bottom. Our performance in that task indicated how the remainder of that day, or subsequent days, would go. Most memorable, is that the “head”, what other services call the “latrine”(restroom to civilians), was scrubbed even more intensely. Not a speck of dust, nor urine stain, pubic hair, razor stubble or soap scum escaped notice during inspection. After two decades using Pine Sol as disinfectant and deodorizer aboard a military installation, that smell is indelibly stamped in my brain. Clean. It is still a pleasing aroma.
Politics have no relation to morals
Niccolo Machiavelli
If politics had an aroma, the stench would be offensive to any military-trained nostril. And despite the eloquence of some Twentieth Century statesmen and pols – Winston Churchill and Ronald Reagan come to mind – politics now entering the third decade of the Twenty-First Century, is nothing short of gag-inducing rotten garbage. I do not join either side in the American spectacle that is President Trump and his camp, or the Democrat-socialist- progressives and theirs. Politics needs a complete “field day”. And so does the would-be electorate.
I think all the garbage in the world is thanks to a very small handful of idiots.
Jeff Dunham, comedian, ventriloquist
As a military veteran, I think, as many do, we need to get rid of all the career politicians and their allies. Twenty, thirty or forty years of politicians complaining the other side is not fixing < insert the problem here> as the reason why they need to be elected or re-elected. Or incessantly being in opposition to the other camp, without having well-thought out solutions to real short-comings. The whole of education, arts, social media, and governance, in America and elsewhere has elevated minority opinion and practice while condemning the society, history and individuals who as a unified country, created medicines, landed people on the Moon, and put cellphone computers in every hand in the world.
We need a deep cleansing. Perhaps we put the military veteran in charge of all institutions, bring back idealism, respect for law and order, freedom OF religion, and family values. Put everyone in the country through a unifying experience of military service. Get into the dark and dank corners. And use lots of Pine Sol. We desperately need a top-to- bottom renewal. We need to take out the garbage. We need “field day”.
Good thoughts
Remember happiness doesn’t depend upon who you are or what you have; it depends solely on what you think.
Dale Carnegie (via brainyquote.com
The world spins on its axis without any consideration how that affects humanity. Many live and die without learning that happiness is not measured in what we accumulate, nor in how others perceive us. For those who spend their lives in desperate search for meaning, perhaps the childlike wonder we once held seems an old and immature way of thinking. We become conceited. We search for answers to questions that do not leave us content. Some wear themselves out seeking happiness through knowledge, position, or imposing their will upon others. Some contend with one another over ideas. Worse, is when a child’s sense of wonder is quashed by such thinking. Unhappiness is certainly an unfortunate consequence of becoming an adult in the modern world.
Perhaps it is the human condition, to be blinded to the simple pleasures of the world that has existed for thousands of millennia without requiring our intellect to reshape the mountains or influence wind and wave. In our hubris with which we perceive the world, do we miss the opportunity to enjoy the days we have been granted? It is truly one of the great misfortunes of maturity, that we do not recall what it is to feel awe of the world we held as children.
1 My heart is not proud, Lord,
my eyes are not haughty;
I do not concern myself with great matters
or things too wonderful for me.
2 But I have calmed and quieted myself,
I am like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child I am content.3 Israel, put your hope in the Lord
-Psalm 131 (NIV)
both now and forevermore.
I am not one who fears what is beyond my understanding or control. It is enough for me to entrust my family and happiness to a Power that is timeless, and perfect. Those like me feel awe and security in a God who holds the Universe in His hands. I am closer to the time I return to dust than my childlike wonder years. It is a blessing to be able to enjoy, through a child’s eyes, the wonder of the world where everything is new. A few hours spent with our grandchild, I marvel, at his mirth when I make faces to entertain him, and when I am entrusted to hold the dried leaves and twigs he gathers on our walks in the park. When I respond to his outstretched arm, carrying him from one adventure to the next, I consider that God himself still carries me. And that fills me with good thoughts.
Proper application and value of “lessons learned”
Preliminary opinions, mostly “armchair quarterbacking”, of the horrific fire aboard the almost-completed refurbishment of the USS BON HOMME RICHARD, (ed. note: abbreviated here as BHR) have started. Murmuring that “lessons learned” regarding the ship’s material condition, monitoring of contractors, and security and safety duties by the crew may reveal inadequate measures taken in one or all areas. Or that an electrical malfunction or overheated equipment started the fire. Reduced to “duty section” personnel aboard ship during weekends in-port in the United States, as the fire was initially called away on Sunday morning, is a long-standing practice of balancing the safety needs for the ship, reduced operations, and liberty for crew who may be at-sea and away from home for nine months a year. This reduced manning may have prevented casualties. Published reports indicate that construction materials were stored in a large interior area where the fire is suspected of igniting. Equipment, furnishings and materials used aboard Navy ships are specifically designed to be fire-resistant and low emitters of toxics. However, during the transition from the yard to an operational state, material may have still been staged in containers called “tri-walls”, These rugged, large-volume, cardboard cartons and their contents might have fed the blaze. For anyone familiar with shipboard life, cleaning is an around-the-clock process aboard a vessel. A maintenance period makes the effort more difficult as well as more important. Dust removal which is omnipresent on ship, salt corrosion due the maritime environment, any trash left by the contract workforce, and improper stowage of cleaning rags and agents all contribute to ship safety issues. Work performed in the vicinity preceding the fire may be suspect. Investigation will likely include any activity in the twelve hours prior to the fire being reported.
Existing practices
Standards in place over several decades, incorporating “lessons learned” from reports of incidents around the Fleet, are managed by several departments within the Department of the Navy. Guidance is distributed by directives from the Chief of Naval Operations (OPNAV), from Naval Safety Center’s investigations, and from Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) which oversees all afloat construction, maintenance and repair, including shipyards and at other facilities. In past, established practices to monitoring work being performed at any hour, scheduled inspections and audits, and well-practiced safety operations would likely be sufficient to mitigate risk. As with any work or potential hazard, human error, negligence or malicious conduct is not always preventable.
Fire is an ever-present danger
Fire is an ever-present threat at sea. On a ship or submarine, crews are thoroughly trained to fight several emergencies from flooding, collision, munitions, toxic gases, electrical and different classes of fire. Identified by the combustible materials, those that burn leaving an ash such as paper, bedding, clothing, or stores can be extinguished with one agent. Fuels and oil require an oxygen disrupting agent. And Class C fires, are electrical in origin, and take different methods to extinguish. On the latter two, “starving” the fire of oxygen knocks the fire down. Besides corrosion to metals and equipment, the danger of electrical shock to firefighters or arcing is present with water, while its use against fuel fires disperses flaming fuel instead of extinguishing it. On three different classes of ships during my eight years at sea, we practiced incessantly for emergencies at-sea and in-port. And practiced security drills. With millions of dollars of valuable equipment aboard and in a time when espionage and terrorism are real concerns, members of the ships’ crew are assigned to accompany contractors, not otherwise cleared for unrestricted access, while aboard. For all “hot work”, that is, welding or grinding, a Sailor and/or a civilian performed as a “fire watch” for the welder. Sometimes, shipboard personnel charged with the vessel and crew’s safety would monitor both the welder and the fire watch. Why such a fuss? The danger from welding or grinding is due to heat or random sparks being generated which could cause combustible material to smolder (sometimes for hours) or set material ablaze in adjacent compartments through convection or radiated heat.
Systems and thorough practice
Aboard ship, the Engineering Department is the primary team responsible for damage control and management of the fire safety systems. These systems consist of pressurized fire mains, firefighting chemical (Aqueous Firefighting Foam or AFFF) and Halon gas (fire suppression) systems. The corrosive properties of seawater on metals and electrical components is well-known, so the Damage Control team evaluates available resources to fight a fire. However, the danger (the BHR fire was reported to be as hot as 1000 F) of water flashing into steam adds to the hazards for firefighters. As has been reported, the Halon system was undergoing maintenance and unavailable to flood a compartment that was on fire. Seawater therefore was apparently the primary means to fight the fire and attempt to cool the hull and compartments to contain its severity. According to one report, the team using AFFF were evacuated due to an explosion in one of the machinery compartments, and it is unclear whether they were able to resume its use. (According to another source, some non-Navy firefighter personnel abandoned their stations when a pump exploded requiring the Navy personnel to be withdrawn.)
Danger during Maintenance periods
The conditions during a maintenance period can contribute to safety hazards. Combustible materials may be used during maintenance contributing to conflagration. Sometimes a heavy paper is affixed to bulkheads (walls) and decks to minimize abrasion from equipment being moved. Terrazzo, a chemically-bonded interior decking material, sometimes has plywood overlaid by shipyard workers to prevent marring by heavy equipment and foot traffic during a maintenance period. Sometimes hatches are not dogged properly, which might either be due to inattention, protruding temporary cabling or poor placement. An improperly closed hatch or scuttle might then allow flammable material or gases to receive sufficient air to burn, or fire to penetrate other compartments. Or improper placement or shifting of material used during the maintenance period might cause running equipment to overheat. Or an electrical problem may cause arcing (sparking) to occur.
The human factor of safety practices
During my time in the U S Navy (nearly three decades), willful damage (in the case of USS MIAMI or USS COMPTE DE GRASSE) was not often suspected, and particularly not suspected to be caused by members of the crew. However, in 2012, a Navy contractor aboard the former, at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Maine deliberately started a fire which resulted in the sub being scrapped. In the latter case, in 1994 a Navy crewman on the SPRUANCE-class destroyer, purposely damaged reduction gears causing extensive damage to propulsion and prevented the ship from deploying.
The investigation of the submarine fire revealed that the perpetrator was not being monitored continuously by a member of the submarine’s crew for a specific period of time. The civilian deliberately set a “small” fire expecting to get off work early. Having too few members of a “duty section”, assigning additional tasks for the crewman assigned to monitor that contractor, or improper vetting of civilian workers may have contributed to the incident. Once the reports have been issued by the investigation aboard the BHR, and the repair costs evaluated. the Navy may return the same verdict as in the MIAMI.
While Navy veterans and those currently in uniform, hope that the destructive fire aboard her was the result of accident, lapses in judgement, or an “act of GOD”, the Navy should not rule out sabotage. Evidence will reveal one or all of these factors. If sabotage, justice will be meted out. In the case of the civilian in the USS MIAMI case, the perpetrator was given a 17-year prison sentence. The sailor in the USS COMPTE DE GRASSE incident also received a lengthy sentence.
Lessons to be learned and then applied
However, the most important lessons to be gathered from this recent fire are to find where the shortcomings were, what worked well, and to implement change with practices, systems or personnel. Others have commented that implementation of lessons from prior incidents and casualties may have been slow to promulgate due to the bureaucracies responsible, or the incident the practice inspired receding into history. The practices that need to be changed will be studied, but the immediate operational effects are more troubling. The loss of the ship’s ability to deploy will cause more problems for the Navy meeting its commitments. With the recent quarter-billion dollar overhaul making it one of four similar ships to provide amphibious F-35 fighter support, the loss is substantial. Billions of dollars and years of construction and validation may be required to replace the USS BON HOMME RICHARD. The void left in the interim will likely result in longer deployments for other ship crews in order to balance the increasing militarization by Russia, China, and other actors in the world.
Preserve, protect and defend
My career in the Navy was committed to preserving the American people and the principles found in our Founding documents. This nation experiences problems that have contradicted those principles all along the last two hundred years. People that have wanted to ignore or redefine those principles. Particularly in the last four years, we have witnessed those who violated their office to uphold public good, safety and the Constitution at all levels of government. At every level, from local to the Presidency, the courts, and state-appointed bureaucrats, we have had a lack of leadership. Division, Fear and ideology replacing honest assessment and problem-solving.
If you have never been in combat, you cannot “understand” what a combat veteran with PTSD is going through. In America particularly, you may never have had guns drawn on you by police, or stopped to question you – simply because you are a particular skin color. Consider anyone you prejudged by their race, religion, origin, unemployment, homelessness, politics, physical disability, or weakness – alcohol, drugs, gambling, pornography, etc. How would you want others to treat you if situations were reversed? Many of us completely absolve another person of horrible attitudes, behavior, or past due to a characteristic we share or a certain point of agreement. We attribute any negatives brought up by others to “bad apples” and refuse to consider anything deeper.
We need to address, and correct the deficiencies, starting with race, but also determine how to accomplish change peacefully. Not by murdering police officers, blocking streets, burning buildings or adding slogans on advertising. Not with lifetime pols in public office, nor vigilante patrols, or by destroying monuments, and deleting history that offends someone. Not by white killing white, brown killing brown, or black killing black – or such. Not with one-sided simplistic journalism to trigger fear while driving ratings up. Honest assessment. Building up not tearing down our differences. So we start with race, law enforcement, crime and punishment. Correct the wrongs and punish the guilty. Change mindsets, and change the conditions that set people up from childhood to experience inequality. Promote discussions. Then work on the next inequality.
In the military, we started with a process – changing mindsets from civilian to military. Physical and mental conditioning. Working together, problem-solving, succeeding or failing as a team. Never quitting and above all, protecting one another and completing the mission. Otherwise, this country’s enemies will not respect us – they will snuff out our dreams for our grandchildren, turn others against us, and cheer us on as we destroy ourselves.
Memorial day
“Those who have long enjoyed such privileges as we enjoy forget in time that men have died to win them.”
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, President
The world is chock full of selfish tyrants, deluded extremists, and self-righteous windbags. Many people live under the control and limits imposed by these kinds of people. Some are fortunate to live where there are opportunities to excel, to pursue careers, and to raise families without fearing for their safety or welfare. The United States of America., however, was founded on principles that were enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, of personal freedoms and Government that is the agent of the governed. These principles have been defended for two and a half centuries by men and women to the point of shedding blood.
Memorial Day was established to recognize and remember that Freedom, the everyday rights and privileges that Americans enjoy, came at a cost. Whatever your political leanings, belief in the supernatural – or not, the color of your skin, or your origin, this particular nation – the United States – is and remains, the one that most of the world’s people, given the opportunity, stream toward. And regardless of individual biases or misgivings about warfare, the military, or those who protect Life, Liberty, and Property, the truth remains that our people have died in defense of foreigners as well as our citizens at home.
In recent decades, the fundamental principles and unity of Americans (in self-identity and language) have come under attack from those who use the very protections afforded them by the United States to attack it. To some, the expressions of “Rights” is separate from the idea of “Responsibilities”, and demand the former without expectations to abide by the latter. Voting (holding accountability of Government to the governed), expression and speech, “2nd Amendment”, and everyone abiding by the laws that reflect the principles and tradition of our Founders, are just a few of the most contentious. Others demand their exclusion from societal policies that were enacted and enforced, poorly at times, by men and women whom our system of governance has entrusted to safeguard the welfare of all our citizens.
Memorial Day, particularly in 2020, should be honored and remembered by all United States residents, for the sacrifice of our military members who died wearing the uniform honorably; Law Enforcement and First Responders; and especially in 2020, our medical professionals; whether their deaths were due to combat, acts of terrorism, wanton violence, accident, or the COVID-19 virus.
Ask the Chief
leadership
I heard a great sea story once about an engineering problem given to a room full of Officer Candidate School students. Given a number of requirements, they had to calculate how to get the job done. Every pencil in the classroom was furiously calculating away but for one student. That student, a Navy Chief Petty Officer, had written, “Find a Chief Petty Officer. Tell him, “Chief, I need this flagpole erected. Today.”
One of the best leadership tools has been around four thousand years.
- Seek Advice:
- 22 Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed (Proverbs 15: 22)
- Don’t talk so much
- 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words (Matthew 6:7)
- Arrogance loses to humility every time
- 2 When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom (Proverbs 11:2)
- Set the example for others
- 13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. (James 3:13)
- Listen, and learn
- 5 let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance— (Proverbs 1:5)
Leadership books are written by the thousands, to distill for others the principles and lessons of leadership. Some look for quick guidelines and surefire tricks. Others look for the “rules” to impress on others or for the means to skirt “around” them. Many realize that leadership is as much developing character as it is authority and taking action. Just as a military veteran understands that we are under authority, and those authorities are under authority, it is through the lessons of Scripture, ultimate authority desires us to seek Wisdom, and reverently follow our Creator.
Why Responsibility Is So Important — Steve Rose, PhD
With all of the recent social distancing measures, we have been repeatedly told by public health officials that it is our responsibility to stay home and flatten the curve. You are not responsible for the problem, but you now find yourself responsible for part of the solution. It can be frustrating, it can be isolating,…
Why Responsibility Is So Important — Steve Rose, PhD
tinkering with raspberries
A blogging compatriot, Biff Sock Pow on WordPress issued an invitation to write about “Whatnot” this Wednesday. And being a big believer in blogging, I thought “why not” include a project that I have been working on? Some might find projects to home-school their children or grandchildren, or possibly irritate their spouse. If you cannot do something worthwhile during a pandemic “shelter in place”, some might end up doing laundry, the dishes, or “rotating” their stock in the liquor cabinet to pass the time.
As anyone who came lately to the “working from home” party – you will know that acquiring a webcam with, or without a microphone – to prepare a desktop PC, or even to buy a simple laptop – became impossible early in the second week of March. And as a self-employed (and soon un-employed) entrepreneur, three or four thousand dollars, for a professional system was ludicrous.
That being said, I had a box of components, cables and AC adapters in my office closet for a Raspberry Pi single board computer kit. Which was easy to overlook, and had not generated a recent “what are you planning to do with that?” from my spouse. A few years ago, when I was constantly tinkering with projects both at work and at home, I had various motherboards, hard drives, power supplies, and computers in the office, the garage, and even a few things in the car. Most were recycled through Goodwill.
A Raspberry Pi was useful to an engineer who needed a small server for a test network. But there are many applications for a programming student, a hobbyist, or for guy needing a video-conferencing tool. For less than $70 US, I acquired the board, power supply, cables, case, a camera module, and a micro-SD card. Should you want to experiment, there is a website , and from Googling other contributors to the Raspberry Pi operating system (it is a variant of Debian Linux), you may find any number of modifications for your purposes.
Tinkering around with settings, writing and modifying programs might seem daunting to those unfamiliar with programming. I used the nano script editor and versions of Python scripting language to do what I needed. As a now retired-developer and test person, the cables, duct tape, multiple monitors, keyboards and mice that cover my desk, were too much for my spouse. “Why do you need all that?!” and “Can’t you just buy a webcam and plug it in?”
Empty store shelves and “backordered” online retailers, is exactly why I built one. It was not, in John F. Kennedy’s immortal words, “”We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard,” (cit). It was because I needed one, and figured why not just put my experience to use. What I knew from past experience was making the jump from different operating systems and applications, would be a little complicated. But Navy Chiefs are not one to shy away from challenge. And an electronics technician for many years has enough hubris to tackle a project with a short timeline. It was relatively easy to assemble, modify the program and then port the video capture to my Windows desktop. Where it got a little challenging was making the video feed available to the Zoom teleconferencing app. There are a number of applications that are easier to work with, for programmers and hobbyists, but my audience – participants, and my production team (spouse) wanted the promised Zoom conference. So …
A Samsung tablet with built-in camera and speaker, with the Zoom application installed was last night’s solution. As for my Raspberry Pi? I will take down my workstation and put it back in the closet for now. Some may shoot for the Moon, when others just want your project not to blow up on the launchpad. (Or when the camera falls over not to knock everything on her desk onto the floor.)
I wonder if Robert Goddard’s started this way?
The Idiot’s Guide to Social Networking
I am dusting off and republishing a few of my oldest efforts blogging. Rough around the edges. Originally published in July, 2009, on my then first blog site “White Male Born Forty” It feels like it was a thousand years ago.
It is unusual for me to admit that I may use technology, but do not necessarily embrace it. While I make my living at a technology company, I do not embrace every nuance, gadget, or appliance that others find indispensable. I have no interest in the Ipod. I don’t need a special ring-tone for individual callers. It is amusing, but not a necessity, that I have the latest cell phone, Kindle, or detail my every move tweeting away on Twitter.
Several years ago a friend at church introduced me to a novel web mail site, Gmail, where I could absolutely ignore the routine preoccupation with overflowing my storage capacity or even whether I could find a particular email in all that space. In the 12 years since I first used email and particularly web mail, this has become an indispensable tool for me. Daily I am reminded why I am proficient with email — some engineer or supervisor may ask me about an event that I was in some manner responsible a year or two prior — and I can influence the outcome of that conversation by producing an archived copy of an email showing he is off the hook!
But I have drawn the line! First, I was intrigued by a site offering an opportunity to find and swap sea stories with shipmates. In thirty years around or in the Navy, there have been a lot of folks I would like to have a chance to thank, call out, or just laugh together at how gray and fat we have become. But then it started to flood in — “Join me on MySpace”, “Check out old friends and family ties on Genealogy.com”, “Be recommended to other professionals on LinkedIn”, “MSN”, Navy instant messaging, business chatrooms, political websites and a constant barrage of instant messaging and recommended websites to my Blackberry and my computer. Even the TV – via the cable programming – offers two -way, instant, specialized content at the push of a button.
But what the heck is “Twitter”! and why would anyone care! I really have gone from being occasionally curious about that old friend who still owes me a drink or two from that bar six thousand miles and fifteen years ago, to a little irritated by the invasion of the peddlers who insist that my love life could be improved – as a result of my using the term “love bratwurst” in the search engine last week! Have you ever tried to delete the unwanted spam in your email, or railed against the indignity of the monthly charge from some obscure “entertainment” site simply because you ordered tickets to “sponge-Bob meet pimp-my-ride” show online?
I often am accused of behaving and thinking – and thus the origin of my blog’s name – as a White Male who was born an inflexible, stuck-in-my-ways, 40 year old. Hey I know plenty of people who begin sentences with ” when I put the record on the turntable”, or “would you believe we used to call our friends from pay phones?” It seems now strange that once, “social networking” was hooking up at the drive-in on Friday nights! Just as I am convinced that you can adapt at any stage of life to perform more efficiently with a technology aid – I am equally convinced that the society degrades to a little with each new technology introduced.
If we only had the technology dreamed up in the Matrix! Plug that big cable into my head and fill me up with all the information so I can jump across high-rise buildings or drive a SPECWAR combat chopper, or speak Mandarin. But you know, the part the movie didn’t show is that all that body morphing and plugging in – you couldn’t find privacy in a toilet. Everybody was connected to one giant theater.
So today, I have a brief encounter with social networking, but prefer the good, old-fashioned, 10-second chit-chat at my favorite donut shop when I start my commute to work, ” how’s the apple fritters today?” “isn’t it great that so many folks start their day with a cup of your coffee”. The day they offer me the ability to pre-order my sugar-fix on Twitter, is the day I wrap my head in aluminum foil and move to that spot in the desert 3 or 4 miles off the paved road, where the folks still complain about the neighbors when the nearest is a half-mile away. Wait a minute! Let me get on Facebook to update my status! Otherwise I might become a technophobe!
Truths, Half-truths, and Sea Stories 