Tux and Tails, Thinking Threadsafe

With our wedding drawing nearer by the day, my fiance and I have been inundated with wedding planning.  The topics on the table include outfits, timetable, transportation, getting a license, surviving finals, photos, reception planning, and much more.  Naturally, our friends and family take much of the load for us, but every decision must ultimately be made by us.  Taking a clue from Linus Torvalds, I have found much use in getting others to feel like they can make decisions to help us out.  We have friends who enjoy interior decorating, baking, stuffing envelopes, and even running sound systems.  These friends have taken much of the responsibility and made hosting an event such as a wedding possible.  Let ours be an example to all who feel mired in the bog of planning things too big to tackle.  Friends make it possible.

Self-Supplied Security

Norton, McAfee, and Avast, OH MY!!!!!  I've installed my share of operating systems and it still appalls me how much slower my machine runs after installing anti-virus software.  Once done with that, there's the hundreds of Windows Security Updates.  Then, finally I get to start using my computer only to have to type in different passwords for every website I go to.  Modern computer security is a downright pain to maintain.

Anti-virus systems have managed to succeed to a small degree though.  Gone are the days of root-kits, trojans, and worms aiming to drag the internet community to a standstill.  Sure there are a few impressive attacks still, but those are usually aimed at disabling Iranian nuclear facilities or the like.  If your job is something other than maintaining centrifuges at a controversial nuclear facility, you can be fairly confident that Symantec, or your choice of software security provider, will be there to guard you from the worst of it.

We are not home-free yet.  With more secure computers and connections than ever before, society has begun to trust the internet more than is wise.  Facebook is notorious for having more information available to strangers than its users prefer.  Google docs open up a world of collaboration, but can quickly be compromised if too many people get access.  Society needs to catch up to the Open Source community, thinking about everything carefully before posting it to the world, and being careful who can make changes.  Ultimately this boils down to 3 things:

1) Be careful what you put online.
2) Use caution when sharing passwords
3) Change default settings to allow only what access you want to share

With these precautions, you can remove yourself as a target of opportunity for the next prowler.

Firefighters From the Future

Firefighters are underrated.  They are seen as heroes and are honored every parade, but how often do we consider that every time a fireman goes to work, he might not come home?  Wildfire Fighters save lives, homes, businesses, and the environment, by predicting where elusive flames will blaze up next.  Fortunately, researchers at BYU are developing methods to improve this deadly guesswork.  While studying how fast a leaf will burn, these scientists are also giving their protection and gratitude to our brave guardians.  Next time you meet a firefighter, do the same.  Our heroes deserve our thanks, regardless of who catches me with illegal fireworks next July 4th.

Pope Preaches Precaution

The Pope thinks the internet is a mixed blessing, touting its utility as an open forum, but warning against becoming lost in the virtual jungle.  Prophet and Pope agree?  LDS.org is stuffed with articles both praising The New Familysearch website and warning against Pornography.  Cyber-peril has united old foes.  Religion is now about guiding disciples correctly, rather than bashing all foreign sects with claims to divine authority.  Now all we need is for believers to realize the war is over.

Data Deluge, Dismaying Divining Devastationists

A lecture I attended today highlighted how technological growth has affected American Culture, speeding humanity to an unhealthy pace.  The telephone was used as a case study, citing the deliberate dialing procedure of the rotary, the excited pace of touch-tone, the acceleration again of single touch speed-dials, ending with the novel concept of speech recognition, meant to shave off even the bit of time usually spent pressing the speed dial buttons.  This same lecture provided me with the interesting reading posted below:

From Movable Type to Data Deluge

Both the lecture and the reading seem to agree that our world is headed to a society of Cybermen from Dr. Who.  I find this conclusion quite untrue.  Being one of the oldest alive who can say I've had a computer in my house since birth, I submit that if anyone were to be inseparably tied to the digital world, I'd have been handcuffed by USB extension cords long ago.  Granted, I do own a cell phone and have a Facebook account, but I do actually remember how to turn off the phone, and have discovered that actually talking to people is much more fun than sitting in front of a monitor, granted I have a big one, and typing at them.  There is hope for humanity's rising electronic generation, we just need to occasionally go outside and remember there is a sun.

Overview of Obstacles to be Overcome

Dear Readers,

Occasionally it happens that I get the urge to buck the system.  This often gets me labeled as one who objects to rules, simply because they are rules.  Let me lay that to rest by pointing out that even the formation of this blog is in accordance to an expectation laid out by a professor: that all students in my class create and keep a blog.  His reasons for requiring a blog are to provide an open forum for class topics and to aid in the development of writing skill.  These objectives are quite ordinary and well thought out, thus I have complied with the related expectation.  There are, however many expectations in the world as a whole that are not as well founded as my professor's.  This blog, while serving to fill a requirement in a class, also will report my opinions on various objectives placed on an Engaged Male Caucasian College Student, highlighting those I believe to be either obscenely obtuse or outstanding in either outcome or modus operandi.

Happy Reading!