New DBD Computer Services Site

Good Morning To All!

 

I just completed the workup on a new Computer Services site. The site is live as of now, but that does not mean there might not be some issues. Of course, I looked through and tested all that I could but as anyone who has done something like this before knows, the only way to truly iron out all the bugs is for it to go live under real circumstances. So I published the site live. Check it out --  DBD Computer Repair Services

In case anyone is questioning the decision to use Wix for the site creation, let me explain my reasoning here so that hopefully it does not come up again. One of the biggest questions one could ask is, if you are soliciting for business as a computer repair tech, or someone with advanced knowledge of computers, why use a site like Wix or anything like it to create your website? Why not create it yourself?

I have thought about this long and hard in the past and even asked myself the same question. The answer is relatively easy to be honest and it all comes down to time. I am a very busy man and what spare time i do have away from family and other duties is spent with my writing or here. The last thing I want to do is use that valuable time coding a website and going through all the various testing that is required to get something like that working flawlessly. Sure, it would probably look good and it is always the most customizable option to code it yourself.

Thing is, the site creation companies that exist now have gotten so much better than they have been in the past. The options that are available, even for free, are options that give me exactly what I need. So why spend the time and money doing it all myself when everything that I need is made readily available and for free.

So you see.. it was really a very easy decision to utilize Wix for my secondary site. So far it has worked out very well and I could not be happier. Now if I could just drum up some business everything would be grand! 

That Lost in the Ages

There are always eras in which people live and associate with. Different times and different people who live within them. In the 1950's things were vastly different as they are now. People thought different, dressed different, and when they looked at people in various stations in life their perceptions were very different than they would be today.

In the 1970's all these things have changed. People were a lot more forgiving of certain transgressions. But even so, there still lived those who were around in the 50's and they were not so eager to let go of their convictions. The same happens today. There are those who have a very different mind-set from those who have come of age in this last decade. The ideas and ideals of these people can be very different and coming to an understanding on various topics can be just as difficult.

Today I see much of this in the aspects of the people around me. The older generation (I say this with all due respect) has a great amount of difficulty adjusting to the fast paced lifestyle that is the norm today. Social media and technology has brought people together in numerous ways and taken them apart in just as many. It is a rather contradictory sight when you consider it all.

Those who have been born a stranger to technology yet are open and willing to accept it are slow to come to the forefront but they can still play the game. Those who are a part of the revolution are only sometimes willing to accept the older folk but when they do they are instantly wiser. Is that a coincidence? I think not.

What about the young who will pass us all up on the way to their present? They will take our technology and evolve it into something new and something strange. It is at this point that we become the "they". When this takes place we should all be wise to accept the invitation to come to the party - that is, if we are to receive one.

Google and their new Cube Lab

For those who know me you know that I am a big fan of everything Google. At the heart of this fascination is the fact that Google does everything they can to explore, experiment, learn, challenge, and create things that give people the ability to use technology for what it was meant for - but in a better, more efficient manner. This also allows for unconventional and new methods of doing things with the tech we all have in our lives. This excites me because not only does it give people with advanced knowledge of computers and technology more tools but it also helps to bring along the novice as well. Speaking of the novice computer user, as they come along for the journey with the advanced users and experts, Google provides them with the tools they need to learn and experiment with the technology being used by the experts so they too may one day share in that distinction. It is just marvelous! 

New Experimental Frontiers

Google is well known for its powerful search engine on the internet. They are also known for some of the various other ways the search engine can be used. Things like calculators, translators, and weight conversions are but a small few things that you can use Google for. And unless you have been living under a very large rock, or living at the bottom of the ocean you would also be familiar with Google Glass, Android, and Google Maps and Earth. If I was to make a list of all the various projects that Google is involved in or the companies they own or have a stake in we would be here all day. Let's just say that Google has grown to be a major company in this country (and the world) and they have no plans on slowing down at any point in the near or distant future.

I think that for anybody who likes to keep up with current technology or news about what is just over the horizon, one company to watch would obviously be Google. This is made even easier considering the Google Chrome Blog has been keeping relevant news on the site and informing the public about new experiments. Yes, "Chrome" is the name of their web browser. But think about just how important that is for a moment.

Everything that we do these days, or almost everything anyway, has a start on the internet. Our communications, many of the programs that we run, or the data that we collect or send out. All of it is either coming from or going through the internet. So if you are building something that is supposed to work better than anything else out there the best place to focus your energies is with a browser. That is precisely what Google had done years ago. They developed Chrome.

Chrome has had its ups and downs just like any browser. Personally I have been using Firefox for the last few years. While Firefox is my default browser I still use Chrome occasionally or when I am doing something specific that requires the use of Chrome. As for Internet Explorer... I have not used that piece of junk for a few years now. I have been using Chrome more and more lately and I expect that at some point in the near future I will make a complete switch between Chrome and Firefox. The point is that the browser Google has created in Chrome is a great piece of software and it serves as the starting point for many of their internet based projects/experiments. This is why the Chrome Blog is a great place to get information about upcoming projects.

The Cube Lab

Today marks the 40th anniversary of the Rubiks Cube. As an homage, Google has launched what they are calling the Cube Lab. The lab is a website that gives users various styles of Rubiks Cube puzzles to not only play around with but they can also create their own. The amount of work and brainpower that has gone into this website is immense and I sincerely recommend that you check it out when you have the time. It is definitely worth a look.

The Cube Lab is a great piece of work. Google has done a marvelous job putting sites like this together and if you never take a look at any of them you are really doing yourself a disservice. The best way to describe what the Cube Lab is would be to let Rubik's Cube creator Professor Erno Rubik explain it. The following  is a paragraph taken from the website's "about" page:

"The Cube was born in 1974 as a teaching tool to help me and my students better understand space and 3D. The Cube challenged us to find order in chaos. Since then, technology has made fantastic progress in bringing new possibilities to how we learn and how we tackle bewildering complexity. Chrome Cube Lab takes full advantage of that progress by encouraging curiosity and problem-solving skills—the very reason the Cube was created in the first place. I can’t wait to see people learn about three-dimensional objects through their browsers and to test the limits of what is possible when the Cube gets re-jigged using cutting edge web technologies. Cube on!”

...Professor Erno Rubik


Links to the sites mentioned in this posting:

The Chrome Blog 
The Chrome Cube Lab 

 

New Menu

For those who pay attention to detail you may notice a new drop-down menu has been added to the front page of the blog. This will make it much easier to navigate through the various stories and articles that I plan to start adding soon.

Some of my writing of short stories as well as the novel I am working on has been moving rather quickly of late. As a result, I wanted to give myself someplace to publish some of these as they are finished. Of course this mostly applies to the short stories as they are the ones that I have finished. I have, at present, 2 short stories that I will be publishing within the next day or so. I just need to do some editing and proofing then they will be all yours. This is where the menu will really make things easier.

You would think that something like a menu would be a simple process, especially in a place like Blogger. Unfortunately Blogger does not provide a menu system that fits my needs so I had to look elsewhere for something that would work. I eventually found something and although most of the coding was already done for me, there were a couple of tweeks and additions that I made on my own. This of course always causes some additional problems to work through.

At this point everything should be working as it should, but if anyone happens to notice a menu item not working properly please let me know. I will be doing my best to handle anything that pops up.

Thanks again and hopefully this addition will make it much easier for you guys to navigate through the new stories and other works that I will be posting very soon. Enjoy!

The Ignorance of Others

Yesterday was meant to be a wonderful day. I had volunteered to be a chaperone for my daughter's 4th grade class on their field trip to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. Having chaperoned 2 previous trips for my daughter over the course of the last couple of years I knew what was expected of me and I always try to enhance the experience of the children in my group. My daughter seems to love it when I go with her and her classmates because I try to make it a very entertaining experience, wherever we are going.

As much fun as we were having throughout the day, there were multiple incidents with various other museum goers that just utterly drove me crazy. The "incidents" that I am talking about would be the multiple counts of ignorance and outright bullying that I witnessed over and over again. Having gone to a ton of public places throughout my life I am very familiar with such actions and come to expect a certain amount of it. As a matter of fact, I am always mentally prepared to deal with things like this no matter where I am because, well to put it bluntly, it just happens. You cannot avoid running into someone who has absolutely no regard for other people. That is, in the case of adults. However, what about experiencing this in children?

Who and Why? Is it their upbringing?

Certain people are just rude. It doesn't matter where you are or what you are doing you will eventually experience the rudeness of others. We have all seen it, someone cutting in front of someone else in line. A person just bogarting their way in front of another person while they are reading a plaque on the wall. There are a variety of ways that people can be rude to their fellow man, or woman. There might even be times in which you or I have been the one committing the rude act.

What about children however? Sure, there is a certain amount of rudeness that comes from kids of various age groups. But in most cases I think we see or recognize that most children might be acting in such a manner simply because they don't know any better. Maybe they are being rude because they don't know that they are affecting those around them. Or maybe, they are acting this way because it is just how they act at home or it is how they were raised to be. I know for a fact that there are certain people that have told their kids, "do what you want to do and don't worry about other people. You get what you want, what you need, no matter how it bothers the people around you."

How do I "know this for a fact"? Well, because I have talked to people over the years and this is what a couple parents have told me that they teach their children. I even had a friend once who raised his kids with a similar mantra. "Surely" he told me, "in a world as cruel and as harsh as this one, we should teach our children to be as aggressive as the person next to them, as the person they are in competition with." To a certain degree I can understand where he was coming from but at the same time there has to be a degree of compassion for other people.

So where or how do we draw the line between caring for ones self and making sure you do not hurt or harm other people? That is hard to tell sometimes, especially where children are concerned. I have always taught my kids that they should always make sure they are safe and get what they want in life. However, you always want to be conscience of those around you. Are you taking something for yourself at anothers expense? If so, then you must reconsider your actions. 

Cultural Differences

I like to think that at the heart of every situation there is a commonality that exists that allows people to understand each other. At the same time, no matter how much people might want to ignore it, there is a distinct racial division amongst people within this country. I think we all need to reassess who we are and how we are different AND alike. We need to realize that no matter what our differences are in regards to appearance deep down we are all human. That fact and that fact alone is all that matters. So why is it that we have such divisions amongst one another when it comes to race? I don't think I will ever find the answer to that question.

That being said, I have lived on this planet for almost 40 years now and I have seen quite a lot. I have lived in very cultural diverse areas as well as places where things are so bland they strive to add diversity. So I feel I have the right to speak my mind when it comes to racial issues because I have lived through them just like anyone else has. There are people out there who will speak on issues they do not understand because they do not have direct experience. They are speaking their thoughts on issues they really have no right to talk about because everything they say is essentially a theory not a fact.

Yesterday at the museum what I witnessed was the same thing that I have seen before. For some reason however I was angered and frustrated much more yesterday than I have been in the past. Maybe it was because it was so blatant and maybe it was because my frustration level with it had reached a boiling point. I'm not sure, but what I do know is that I had to write about it to make myself feel somewhat better about it. Maybe writing this piece about the experience will give me the chance to vent my frustrations and at the same time hopefully enlighten others to it as well.

There were a large variety of rude and ignorant acts that I saw yesterday and about 98% of them were carried out by kids from the ages of about 9 to 13. These are definitely kids who are old enough to know better. The last 2% were adults who surely should know better. In one incident we were walking up to an old steam train to see what it looked like in the drivers compartment. I stood to the side of the stairway to allow my group of 4 kids to walk up and into the compartment. I wanted them to be able to see all of it without being in their way myself. Suddenly a group of Latino children walked up the stairs with their chaperone. They all (about 6 of them) rushed up the stairs and literally pushed my kids out of the way and stood directly in front of them. The adult with the group followed right behind the kids and pushed his way in as well. He even stretched and leaned over one of my kids blocked her view entirely so that he could see better. I immediately walked up as far as I could on the stairs and lead my kids back down and out of the exhibit. I figured it was best to just leave the area before more anger and frustration grew.

Another time we were watching a very large avalanche simulation machine describe and show how the grains and rocks in an avalanche move down a slope. There were controls at the base of the machine so the kids could control the machine and see how different environments and different materials effect the avalanche. We waited our turn behind a black kid who just seemed to not want to leave even though he obviously had no clue as to what he was doing. When he finally left I guided my daughter towards the controls and she grabbed them in hand. I explained to her what they did and how it worked so she could understand what she was doing. She operated the apparatus for about 1 minute when 3 black kids her age crowded around us. They got very close and started talking so loud that my daughter and I could not hear one another.

Then as they inched in closer and closer, one of them took his hand and while my daughter was still operating the machine he pushed her hand off of it and grabbed  the control. As he did this he started to try and wedge his way into where she was standing, until I intervened. I asked them to kindly move back and give us some room and explained that my daughter was till using the machine. I said when she was done they could have their turn and that everybody should get a turn. The one who grabbed the control from her seemed to get it, but one of the other kids actually said, "forget it cracker its my turn now!" Keep in mind that this kid was probably about 9 or 10 years old. I was more shocked that he would say something like that to an adult more than anything else at that point. I gently put my arms down on either side of my daughter where she was standing so they almost formed a wall around her allowing her to freely use the controls. By this point however she just wanted to leave the area. I don't know if she was just upset or finished learning about avalanches but either way I was very upset.

Needless to say we left the area about 5 minutes later and continued on through the museum. The interactions and confrontations did not end there however. Not only did we run into more ignorance and rudeness throughout the day but I also continued to see such acts against other people as well. For example, at one point we were by a large scale model of the city of Chicago that has a few model trains going around the large model city. There was an Indian family looking at the exhibit and preparing to take a family photo standing in front of it. As they lined up for the picture there were a couple adults (not with their group) who were obviously standing back so as to not interfere with the picture.  However, there were multiple black kids who were deliberately walking in between the picture taker and the rest of the family completely not caring what was going on around them. The family taking the picture had to reset multiple times and finally moved to a new spot, unable to take the picture where they wanted to. It was almost sickening.

Salvaging the Field Trip

Although the experiences I had just described made it difficult to really enjoy ourselves we did end up having a good time. It is hard not to when you are chaperoning a field trip with your child and their friends. The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago is a great place and they have a bunch of fun and educational exhibits. I think my daughter really enjoyed the day and that was all I could ask for.

As far as the people who exhibited a complete disregard for their fellow human beings goes I fee sad for them. I think as they continue to grow up they will either realize their actions define them or they will not. For those who realize this truth they will hopefully do what they can to become a person who is not only good to themselves but to others as well. Those who do not see this will likely live a life filled with agony and despair. I know, that might be a bit of a stretch but there is a whole section of our society who feels that it is pointless to get along with other cultures and that they are doing their culture a favor by alienating it from that of other people.

I know from experience that nothing good ever comes out of putting yourself in a corner and ignoring both the people and the environment around you. We should always embrace the cultures of others as a way to learn more about them. If we could all see one another as a fellow human being and not as the color or culture they portray on the outside we might have a chance to get along and learn something. The ability to learn and adapt is one of the major things that separates us from that of the animal kingdom. Why would we want to ignore what other people can teach us only to remain stationary in society? I think the more we learn from each other the closer we can get to having a true understanding of the world we live in.

The Ukrainian Crisis

There are quite a few conflicts in the world at any one time. Think about it, when was the last time that you remember the news not talking about a war, conflict, or any other military action somewhere in the world? My entire life I cannot think of one time, one solitary moment of peace. Can you?

 The Past

I am half Ukrainian and half Polish but All American. I have always been an extremely patriotic individual. But that does not mean I have forgotten my roots. I really wish that I had more time with my grandmother to be able to find out more about that portion of my family and heritage. The biggest thing I remember being told was a story of when my Grandmother and Grandfather running from the Nazis through Europe on their way to the United States, as most did during that time. I remember hearing about how they would routinely hide in trenches or abandon and burnt out homes as they fled the chaos and calamity of the war raging around them. My Grandmother was pregnant with my father at the time and my uncle was probably around 10 years old I believe. 

My father ended up being born in Austria and when they finally made it to the United States they settled in Pennsylvania. Over the years they all learned really good English and did what everyone else did.The eventually moved to Chicago and when he grew up and got married, had children, and started a life devoid of all wars. We lived for a while in a place called "the Ukrainian Village". It was a Ukrainian community in Chicago that tried to keep Ukrainian customs alive in new generations of people growing up in America. 

I am mentioning this because our country, America, has done a wonderful job through the generations building a country with a wide variety of people, cultures, and ideals. Although some might argue that point and claim that the crime and racism that exists is a clear example of why it is not working, I think most would agree with me that it is. So what about the rest of the world? What about the Ukraine? I am asked often by those around me who know what my heritage is what my thoughts are about the crisis that is going on over there. I am asked how I feel about it or if I know more than they do.

A Cultural & Real Separation

There is a lot going on over in Europe that I have no idea about. I'll admit, I don't really pay much attention to what is going on over there. Why would I? With what has been happening over in the Ukraine I have been paying attention to the news a little more but I still never made a huge effort to search out or find specific programs geared towards information on the conflict. From what I do know however it does see like there are some really bad things happening over there and it does not appear to be slowing down at all. On the contrary, it seems to be gaining momentum, not losing it.

I cannot say for sure what it will take to end the conflict but it does seem like some neighboring countries might need to get involved. And why not? Some of what is happening could very well spill over the Ukrainian borders and into their lands. Now, on top of the troops that Russia has been amassing on the borders, pro-separatist militias are taking over various government buildings and areas. People are fighting and dying and I think it is just a matter of time before everything escalates into full war. 

It is difficult for people here in the US to get involved in what is happening there. We just do not have enough information or enough cultural knowledge to really know what's best. The various factions and ideals that people are fighting for are foreign to us. Russia built certain portions of the country and populated others. Russia also dominated the Ukraine for many years and when they finally got their independence it was long overdue.  The problem is that it was relatively recent and there are still a lot of people there who are Russian at heart. It makes for a difficult situation and again, one that the United States should stay out of. That is, unless the prevailing government, the true government of the country sincerely asks us for help. Should that happen we will really need to determine what is right and what our previous obligations might be. How bad do we want to piss of Russia?

Spiderman 2: Just How Good is it?

As much as I love to watch movies and televisions shows, well.. anything that tells a story really. But as much as I enjoy that, as a writer the one thing that I typically stay away from writing reviews of movies or television. Unfortunately I do not have a good reason why, I just do not write them. However, in this case I will make an exception simply because the movie was just that good. I am talking about Spiderman 2.

The Overall Setting

Another thing that I don't do quite as often as other people is go to the theater. With all of the media technology available to the general public I find it far too convenient (and comfortable) to watch movies or any other video for that matter in the comfort of my own home and on my own couch. This time I was surprised however by the eldest of my offspring. My beautiful 16 year old daughter bought two tickets to the 3D IMAX opening night showing of Spiderman 2. If I did anything right as a father it was to instill a love for all things Spidey in my kids.

We had what I thought were really good seats in a not so crowded theater at 10pm. I opted for the no popcorn and no drink watching style because there is no pause button when your in the IMAX theater with nearly 50 of your neighbors. I did not want anything to pull me away from the movie. So my daughter and I sat through the previews and eagerly awaited the opening scenes. I must say that I didn't expect the movie to open on Richard Parker (Peter Parkers father) and his wife Mary on the run from something and leaving poor little peter with Aunt May and Uncle Ben. The story tries to build some back story and maybe pick up a little from where the last film left off.

After the excitement with the Parkers comes the good stuff. While Gwen Stacey awaits Peter at their high school graduation ceremony he is busy trying to help the police stop a highjacking of some high-grade plutonium from Oscorp. Like most movies this entire scene is filled with action, crashes, and explosions. The best part however is the work and special effects done on Spiderman himself. There is a minute or so of him flying really high and web-swinging between skyscrapers coming very close to the ground before pulling himself back up again on a web from his wrist.

I had a really good feeling about the films special effects and attention to detail when I saw Spiderman make his first appearance falling gracefully  to the ground and swinging into the action. You could see the wind moving around the loose bits of the suit on Peter's back as he cut through the wind like a professional skydiver. Everything just looked very realistic. The little details like that are things that are missed sometimes and it is those small details that many of us are looking for. Attention to detail.

 Special Effects

Today the words special effects just does not seem so special anymore. The movies made today are usually filled with various CGI scenes and other camera tricks to get the director the shot that they want. Sometimes there is more money spent on the computer generated graphics that what some high level CEO's make in Chicago or New York. Thing is, with all that money being spent there are a lot of movies that would have been better off investing that money elsewhere. The CGI work on a film can either make it look beyond fantastic or just make it look cheap. It is an art these days to be able to take the CGI work done by some very talented individuals and merge it with the live action shots and edit it all together. The team that worked on Spiderman 2 deserve an oscar!

When I originally saw the trailers for this movie I was pretty upset about a couple things. They were assumptions really, but from what In was seeing and what I remembered from past films I saw the whole Jaimi Foxx as Electro thing as a mistake. Then when I saw how they decided to present Electro I thought, "oohh.. mistake number 2." You know what though.. I have never been more wrong in my life! First of all Jaimie Foxx did a marvelous job of portraying the juxtaposition of his characters personalities. He was wonderful as the loner, shy, alone, introverted genius and equally as terrifying as the powered up and mad as hell Electro!

The lightening effects used were very realistic in my opinion and beyond that the angles and type of shots they used to capture the action and where they blended the CGI was just fabulous. Man, there's a word I do not use that often. Still.. I found myself thrilled at the prospect of the big fight between Spidey and Electro just based on seeing how they made his powers evolve and change. Then, as he used them against Spidey and objects like walls and cars, it just looked great. Afterwards I was excited about Jaimie Foxx and happy they chose him because he did a great job and I am not sure if anyone else could have played that role quite like he did.

As the Story Goes...

One of the biggest ongoing arguments with any and all of these so-called "comic book movies" is will they or wont they stay true to the original story? Then people argue that maybe they shouldn't. Maybe they should use it as a basis only but explore other ideas as they build the story. I for one am a believer that the comic book should not be messed with. I feel that there are certain things that are shall we say.. adjustable. Yet, other aspects of the original story should be left alone. If you're going to make a movie based on a comic book it is just like doing a remake or making a movie from a book. You have the basis for your story and you should stay true to the story and the vision the author had for their characters. But the visual medium gives you a little bit of a different outlook on how you can present those things to the audience.

With Spiderman you have a character that is universally loved by all and there are a ton of people who are more than aware of the original story. So to mess with the story is to doom your project to fail with the true fans from the start.  A great example of this is the web shooters for the Toby Maguire movies and the Andrew Garfield movies. They decided to make Spiderman have organic web shooting ability in the first movies but in the present Andrew Garfield movies they made it so that Peter Parker had to design and develop the web shooters - just like in the comic book. This was something that might have been seen by some as a small part of the story but to the true fans it was something that really turned them off right from the start on the Maguire movies.

The same can be said about the Mary Jane and Gwen Stacey relationships with Peter Parker. Both movies took a different path on this but again, the Garfield movies got it right once more. With a character that has such a loyal and devoted following as this one does it is hard to go against the grain. They tried it with the Toby Maguire versions and because of that they had an uphill battle from the start. The present incarnation of Spiderman is so much more a movie that follows the original story and because of this the fan base is really getting behind it. At this point and especially after Spiderman 2 has been released if I was Toby Maguire I would be embarrassed to show my face in public.

Turn on the Lights

I'm not all that excited about the new X-Men movie and there is at least a year and a half until the next Spiderman, if there is a third movie. I would think there would have to be. Everything is made in threes these days. Overall I was very happy with this movie and I am sure if I tried really hard I could find a few faults with the movie. I don't want to do that though. I have always hated when a movie critic would over-analyze a movie and tell people it was no good as a result. There is a time and place for that type of examination of the final product but it is not necessary for the fans. Our job is to enjoy the movie. It is entertainment and that is precisely how we should look at it.

As far as entertainment goes I was excited, thrilled, anxious, happy, and sad throughout the film. This movie was well worth the money to see. If my opinion was worth anything I would try very hard to get everyone involved with the film to hear my opinion. If my opinion mattered I would want them all to know how much I absolutely loved the movie. How much I was happy they made the film exactly how they made it and just how happy I was about all of their acting. This movie was a thrill to watch and I will surely see it many more times before the next one comes out.

I have been a comic book fan for a very long time and Spiderman has always been my favorite. When they started making comic book movies I think I was one of the happiest geeks on the planet. So I have seen every comic book related movie produced in the last 20 years and I have loved most of them. When the first Spiderman came out you could not imagine my joy. I enjoyed it, but overall it was not what I wanted. That being said, you should already have guessed that I absolutely love this new movie. However, I will take it a bit further than that. As far as any and all comic book movies are concerned, Spiderman 2 is the absolute best comic book movie ever made!!