Intelligence

This is Abby. I'm pretty sure she's more intelligent than me. It wouldn't be too hard.

A few days ago, Abby and Chili were playing, and Abby's neck got scratched. Being the benevolent owner I am, on our evening walk, I used the harness on Abby, instead of the choker collar. I couldn't remember how to get it on her. She did. Abby pushed her head through the collar opening, and lifted her leg for me to snap the harness. She remembered the pattern with the collar. I didn't. From two years ago.

Just, Damn!

Have you noticed my posts becoming more and more techy? Yeah, me too. Some people have responded, wanting more commentary. At least, I'm glad I'm entertaining.

Other than learning my dog is smarter than me, I have no real commentary tonight. Maybe I'm finally linking into 'the system'. You know; the one with beacon scores, malicious financial people, identity theft, and dogs and cats with no hair. The system where you don't start life after college from the ground; you start 20 stories from the underground - deep in dept. You become a servant of the system. You do what you told at work, because you have to. You ignore you conscience, and remember your responsibilities.

We've become slaves to our indulgences.

Nope, no commentary tonight. Sorry.

When I have to study for school, if I'm studying anything about computers, it doesn't feel like studying. When I have to study for speech class, it feel like glass splinters piercing my face, neck, and shoulders. Or was that the hurricane?

This last weekend, I did a trade-out with a friend to fix her computer. It was slow, really slow, with only 128meg of memory. But worse; it had some serious malware - some spyware and a few rootkits. The spyware is workabout, sometimes, but the rootkits are not. It's far easier to start with a clean slate. I saved her files, reinstalled Windows -this time making sure it, and all the virus and spyware detectors were updated, reintalled her software, and made it look purty too. It came out better than new.

The problem is; it's going to get infected again. It's Windows XP. Sure, Microsoft has done an excellent job of making computing easier for the masses, and the internet has given reason for the masses to want or need a computer. But the two just weren't made for each other. Her Windows computer will become infected. Yuck. I set up a pretty basic defense, enough of one so that she can be somewhat protected, but still do what she wants, but it's just not enough.

I'm not bashing Microsoft here, not am I a Windows hater. Windows has a problem - security. When Vista comes out, I'm sure it will be much better. But, for now, anyone using Windows has to be a security expert, even though even they get infected too.

If you want to be able to use the internet without the irritation of viruses, spyware, adware, and rootkits, get a Mac, or install Linux. At least for now.

Maybe Vista will be better. For the price, it better.

I'm sorry about the whole commentary bit. I just can't think of anything to comment about. I'll work on it.

More Speech

Got through my second graded speech (sounded like I said it was 2nd Grade Level). I did it on Linux, and it went pretty well. I still went over time, but only slightly. I still tried to use the cue cards, but that just makes me stumble. I can recover from a stumble pretty well, but it makes me take too long to make the presentation. When I practice at home, it hits just right, but at school, it takes longer. Part of it is trying to hold the cards, look down and use the Powerpoint all at one time. Not practical at all. If I can get it down to just one card, it might work, but no more than one. Looking down it the biggest problem that messes me up. Every time I look down to the cards, I get 'off-beat'. I knew what I was suppose to say next, but looked at the card to make sure instead. It's better, and much more fluid, when I just go out of my head. But, I do that daily.

Right now, I'm using the old pink iMac, with Ubuntu Linux. I'm using it for a few days, mostly to make sure everything necessary is installed, but also to make sure it's not too slow to be unusable. It's not. Not only is it completely usable, but it's actually faster than with Mac OSX. Mac OSX and the various Linux distributions have lots of similarities, so it's easier to switch from Mac to Linux. Gnome (what makes Linux distros look more like Windows) helps the Windows people use Linux. Mac is very good, but very big, making it work slower on older equipment. While the Pink Mac isn't going at warp speed, it's at a tolerable level of slowness, and it hasn't crashed at all, so far.

This is a screenshot of running the Old Pink iMac, G3 - 333mhz, 6gig HD, and 160meg memory. In the screenshot, I'm running Gaim Instant Messenger, Firefox Web Browser, and Gimp photo editor (pretty much as good as photoshop). Even with the low amount of memory, it didn't slow down much at all.

This brought me to an idea I want to do:
I'd like to create an organization to take older, but still usable computers, install a Linux distro, and give it to a student without a computer. Doing so will help keep a perfectly good computer in use -instead of making toxic waste sooner than necessary- and help a student. I could start at the Community college level, since I'm there, and.....
Okay, truth is - it would keep me having a constant supply of toys. There are problems with the idea; storage, getting donors, getting recipients, and supporting the systems I give out. It would definitely be a two or three person volunteer effort. Maybe someday. If Mac or Windows goes Open Source (and I think they eventually will have to), I'd use those too.

Nancy and I've been working out more - doing an all day workout. All throughout the day, we do sets of a few different exercises. The next day, we do different exercises. The idea it to create something for very time crunched people to use. Eventually, I'm going to figure things you can do in work clothes. Might be the start of a decent book.

We went to Epcot Saturday, and Nancy treated me to dinner at Japan. Our cook was good, and the food was really good. Even still, I wish they had messed with the restaurant at Norway; Akershus. Now, they've gone and done this Storybook Princess dinner thing. Friggin fetish people. I bet each of those girls winds up divorced real quick, when their princess bubble burst. Invade my space, will ya. Then again....

Snow White did pretty hot. Maybe I could get Nancy one of those outfits.
I might just go to the Storybook Princess Dinner after all.

Ubuntu Linux

We had this older Strawberry iMac around. My stepson, Brett, had been using it, but the hard disk was damaged, and it kept locking up with Mac OS X. I tried to install Fedora Core 4 Linux for PowerPC, but it had a bug in the install engine, so I installed Ubuntu Linux instead. It went right on. The machine now seems to run faster than it did with it's originall version on Mac OS 8.0 on it. The hard disk was reformatted, with the damaged spot being worked around -a nifty little utility. So, we have another computer that works quite well. I need to find something that will let a USB Wireless adapter work with Ubuntu, and then we can find someone who'll get good use from it.

I have class tonight, and I think we might have a test, so I need to study. Not that it really matters; it's a take home test.

Mark Shuttleworth, thanks for Ubuntu.

The Cause of Stupidity

"Doesn't anyone have any common sense anymore?" - When did they ever??
"What happen to nature weeding out the stupid from the gene pool?"

I hear things like that all the time. But, interestingly enough, I know how people became more stupid;

Trial Lawyers.

Yes, I'm serious.

It works like this:
Part of what's kept us alive as humans are critical thinking skills. Living off the land creates very well developed critical thinking skills -everything you do is critical. In todays world, you don't have to think anymore. Someone else has done it for you.

Someone stands too close to Niagra falls, and falls in. That's a completely natural event. No violence, just poor judgement skills. But, the Trial Lawyer was on his visit to Niagra too. Rushed over and immediately assumed representation, and made the surviving family weathy. The Niagra park was sue beyond wits end, and new policies and procedures where put in place -along with taller rails. Since then, no one has gone over the falls.

Now, that story is fake, of course, but it kind of makes the point. People don't get to exercise the critical thinking skills of, "Don't get so friggin near that drop." Now imagine something like that, put in place everywhere you do.

All because of trial lawyers.

But all of this raises the question; what would the world be like if everyone were smart, or at least did have common sense/critical thinking skills.

Not so sure I want that. Let me bask in my stupidity.

Thanks, Morgan and Morgan.

----------------

I've worked at Sports Authority the last few days, and I've picked up some new clients too. I'm not even done with these classes, and I'm ready for my next ones. I usually have better patience.

I'm learning more Linux stuff. The whole concept is incredible interesting, and I think we're going to see some interesting things happen with it in the next two years.

If Wal-Mart wanted to, it could produce it's on Linux distro, produce good, cheap computers for very low prices, and sell a lot. The usability for newbies is much better, and getting easier every few months, not just every few years. So many people are working on improving it, it moves at a much faster pace.

It seems like $150 is the magic number for big sales. Anything that gets below that price seems more affordable for most people, even those that probaby couldn't really afford it. It's just low enough to be percieved as affordable.

More random thoughts.

Workstation

I would love to say this is my get-up, but it's not. Both lit, one watercooled, three screens, and a laptop, all on Fedora Linux. That is one awesome get-up. Hopefully, someday I'll have something that looks like this. Even better; I'd be able to work from home.

For over 20 years, the fitness business has been my main source of income. Occasional part-time jobs, especially at Christmas and the summer, here and there. But the fitness business has changed, the Personal Trainers industry has changed, and the economy has changed. And, I've changed, hopefully for the better.

I decided to pursue a second career in Computer Information Technology, not because I don't like being a personal trainer (in fact, I love it), but because I needed different pursuit; something to work for. In the past, most of my focus of effort was on the physical area, but now it's the mental.

Training is still my focus, and hopefully I might be able to merge the two, and create an industry. Or, I might be able to get a cubicle job. You know....in a cubicle....in a building....with suits. My stomach is already getting tight from the thought.

Some random thoughts there.

Back to the picture; I could think of a few more things I'd add;

• A PocketPC/cellphone - or Linux based similar
• A good webcam
• A good mic - for podcasting
• And....the monitor and keyboards could raise up and down, so I could stand and work for awhile, if I needed.

The thing is; even with all that equipment, with careful planning, budgeting, and careful internet shopping, all that can be done pretty cheap - under $2000. The biggest problem wouldn't be the money; it would be the time it took to hunt down that stuff at cheap prices.

What I'm mostly impressed with is HOW did he keep that place looking neat??

I did my speech tonight. I'll try to post a clip. I was a bad boy. I did it on the skull and bones, and actually got away with it...teehee.

I talked about how writers -Dan Brown, for example- use conspiracy theories as background and plot for his stories. I intend to write a novel, using the skulls and the storyline. That was what the presentation was about, and what I've been slogging my brains away on all week. I just want to get one of these friggin things right. At least mostly right.

I did pretty good. Flubbed the intro a wee bit, but recovered and moved into the body, and then.....oh my! The media clips didn't work. The one computer, in the whole friggin school, is the one that hadn't been updated with the Powerpoint plugins for the newest Windows Medial Player. I was like a guy pressing the mute button over and over, wondering why the channel won't change. After too long an interrupt, I quoted the clips, and got through the speech.

I looked it over when I got home. My mouth was really dry, my sinus were draining, so I kept having to clear my throat, and cough occasionally. Of course, it could have been the dry mouth, and the saliva turning to cement. Yeah. Something like that.

My biggest problem was using the cue cards. I would have done far better without them. I had the whole thing in my head, at least well enough to get the material out. Looking at the cards interrupts my train of thought, I lose my place, and the pause is already too long just typing about it. Next time, I may just make the cards -they're evidently a 'requirement'. Sounds communist, don't it? I'll just fill them out, but only keep them in my hand when I speak. I do much better from my head, and the Powerpoint. The friggin thing reminds me what I'm doing next, and leads my train of thought. Oh, wait, I'm not suppose to reveal the Brethren of ADD Revolutionary Army counter-intelligence secrets. Opps.

So, sorry for the lack of posts this week. Yes, I know; here I go, and do a presentation on blogs, then barely even post at all during the very next week.

Oh, wait,...another BADDRA secret. Man....I'm gonna have my user privileges removed.

For Your Entertainment

And Mine

The Winter Olympics

I love the Winter Olympics, as much or more than the Summer Olympics.

The Summer Olympics, for the most part, are about athletetism, physical effort, and endurance; Higher, Faster, Stronger. I was in a 'non-sport' sport- Gymnastics. We call them Subjective Sports. I have a great deal of respect for the athletes in the Objective Sports, pretty much anything where there's a finish line, heaviest weight, highest pole, etc.

If the Summer Olympics are about athletics, the Winter Olympics are about all out Daring. Most of the athelets are daredevils (except Curling, of course). Thrillseekers. I respect and admire their daring, and their stupidity. After all, you gotta be pretty stupid to do a triple somersault with a double twist -A triple double- with no pad to land on, other than snow. You gotta be pretty daring to get up from a skiing crash, butt still clenched, and ski anyway. You gotta admire someone willing to fly, under their own effort, for over 103 meters (344 feet!!). I don't think the Wright Brothers ever flew that far, and with an engine!

So, Bryant Gumbel, screw you!

I had my Speech Class tonight. Not feeling to confident about it. As Dilbert would put it, "Thriving on Vague Objectives." I guess it's a bit like the Ice Skating, or Gymnastics Judging. Some of the students are getting together to meet, just to make sure we're getting things right. Guess I'm not the only one in a befuddlement. I don't expect to get all A's, expecially in subjective classes. God know's I'm use to subjectivity, having been a gymnast. But I sure hate that not-so-confident feeling, especially when it comes to school. I haven't had the best experiences with organized education (I do appreciate Organized Religion, though, whatever the Hell Organized Religion is suppose to mean).

Well, my athletic training isn't occuring right now, but my athletic brain did need a rest today, and I was glad for the company in my nap.

Today's blog brought to you by:

My Toy is having some troubles. The headphone jack is being finicky. Sometimes it works fine, sometimes not. It spits and stutters.

After searching online, I learned that a headphone plug has three contact parts; 1) The tip, which is the left channel. 2) The center of the plug, which is the right channel. 3) The sleeve, which is the ground.

I'm guess somethings not working right with the ground part of the headphone jack. After fiddling with it (tweezers, sewing needle, small screwdrive), I'm lucky I didn't mess it up futher. I manage to make it a bit better, but not as good as it should be.

In my mind, a headphone jack should last more than two years. In all fairness, I use my toy to listen to alot of podcasts -very education, those things can be (that sounded a bit to Yoda, huh?). I like my toy alot. It has mp3 capability, ebooks, camera, and tons of other stuff. I'd really hate to lose the audio player capability.

Today
I worked tonight. Very few people came to the store, so we focused on keeping things 'zoned' (think-make pretty). Other than that, I spent most of the day studying.

I'm learning more Linux stuff. The file system is interesting; a bit different from Windows NTFS, FAT16, and FAT32. And the mac file system is differnet too. I've learned that most computer can work with FAT32. I think I'm going to do my class project on Linux File System.

Sounds fun, don't it?

Did you get VD?

Another one of those days when I just can't think of anything to write about. Unusal for me; I seem to always have something to say, or at least think about. But that's for my own entertainment. At the very least, I know I need to entertain you.

I think most men fear Valentines Day more than Tax day. I feel really sorry for the guys with girls who work in the vanity industry - hair stylist, nail techs, etc. They have to compete against all the other boyfriends. Wo be you who doesn't out-do all the other boyfriends.

For me, Valentines Day feels like an overwhelming job of decision making. Bush say's his job is that of decision maker. I think I could do a better job. But, Laura's still with him, so he must get it right sometimes.

I think I got it right today. Money is very low for me right now, with school and all, so I can't get Nancy a red Porsche or anything like that. Not that I would - I just have difficulty with that level of overconsumption and self indulgence. Then again, if I could, I probably would, self indulgence or not.

Everyday, Nancy treats me like it's Valentines Day. It's probably because she has a good example to follow. It's rubbed off on me, but I still need more training. At least I don't pee on the carpets. Well,...not anymore.

For The Record

Every so often, someone breaks a world record. Track, swimming, speedskating, etc...the objective sports (think- Finish Line). And for a short time, they get to achieve the status of Super Human. Their record might fall, but they will live forever in the record books. It's a really cool thing when it happens at the Olympics.

But not today. So far, no world records have been broken. The USA had a 'Black Sunday'. Kwan cancelled, Ono droped, and Miller may have drank a bit too much. But, wouldn't you know it, one of those Ginger kids saved the day; The Flying Tomato - Shaun White.

Speed Skating is my favorite event at the Winter Olympics. Next would probably be Free Style Skiing, then Snowboarding. I like the other stuff too, but those are events I love to watch.

I actually trained for awhile in Inline Speed Skating, till I got my ass whooped at the first trail competition I tried. The other guy was all the way on the other side of the track by the time I even got to the endpoint of the curve. Two-to-Three days a week of training don't cut it. I remember asking the other guy how often he trained, "Twice a day" he replied. And he wasn't even in the competative league yet. I simply didn't have the time to devote to training, nor a close enough location too train. To be honest, I didn't have the desire to take it that far. And that's really what it takes to make it to the top levels; an unquenchable desire. I really did like speed skating though, and I appreciate what those people I watch on TV have accomplished.

What you see on the Olympics is not the result of weekend warriors. You don't make that level training only a few days a week. What you see are people who think, breathe, eat, sleep, and crap their sport 24/7. It's admiring to watch, but it can be difficult to be around people with that focus - just ask Lance Armstrong's first wife. But, if you want someone who has a work ethic you've rarely ever seen, hire someone who's ever even trained in an Olympic sport. What most people call work, they call rest.

The Olympics seems to be one time, when countries put their differences aside, and compete for Honor, Glory, and the Wheates Box. The cool thing about the Olympics; Sometimes, the champion isn't necessarily the one who won the Gold.

Information

And you thought I was going to do another techy blog. Nope.

Someone, okay, a few people, have noticed a few spelling and grammar errors in my blogs. Yes, folks, I go at this with no editor. And I call myself a writer?? Every once in awhile I remember to do a spell check, but most of the time, I just want to get the damn thing to 'press'. I'll try to bring my quality up. I understand the point. Bad spelling is tolerable, but bad grammar seems to cause stimulate a reader to leave the site.

Lastnight, in my speech class, I learned that we'll be doing Informational Speech and Persuasive Speech presentations. We were told that Informational Speaking is not speaking. Now, I understand this. Preachers and teachers do purely Informational Speaking. Preachers are often doing Persuasive Speaking, too. But, almost every other speech I've ever heard is How-To. But, we're not going to learn that.

In most businesses, ALL speaking is How-To. Occasionally, a business person will do informative speaking, but most business speeches are How-To.

But, we don't get to learn that.

Just like most of the learning I've done in my life, I have to learn it on my own. People tell me education is a good investment in your personal future, but sometimes, it can be a waste of time and money. Not that this class is, but some are.

Other News
Not much else is going on. I have a few spots left open for about 3 more clients, but other than that, not much more. So, if your wanting a spot, go to my website: CoachDANNY.net, and email me, or give me a call. You can catch me on Skype too. My screename on AIM, Yahoo, MSN Messenger, and Skype is Bodycoach2.

Don't forget to checkout Nancy's Blog: Wayworm.com

National Security Agency Tools

Want to use the tools the NSA uses?

Computer Network Defence Operations

Power

It's said, "Absolute power corrupts aboslutely." Ah, but I have proof of the alternative.

Ghandi. A simple man. Never held office, never made millions, but lead his people and his nation to freedom. And another man followed his example.

Today, Coretta Scott King was honor in a service in Lithonia Ga. I don't think as many important people came to honor Reagan when he died. Martin Luther King Jr. followed the direction of Ghandi; non violent, passive resistance, and civil disobedience. How many people today are even aware of these men, and this woman's contribution to mankind.

Some men are of great achievement. Some are of great power. But a rare few have the kind of influence simple men do. We remember these type of men differently. Lao Tsu, Buddha, Jesus, Martin Luther, Martin Luther Jr. (I didn't add in Mohammad. At this time, I remain unconvinced of his 'peaceful nature'). These men, quite literally, stirred the soul, and made man better. For the most part.

Coretta Scott King was s simple woman, but today the world saw the influence she had. Some people complained about the political zings. I disagree. Mrs. King's life influence politics, to a great degree, and any place was the right place, that was it. I'd say the 'Best Speech' award goes to Clinton. He's a master at speaking, and did it well.

Former President Jimmy Carter made a rightful zing about the ongoing NSA wiretapping. He pointed out how the government tapped the King family, and how the FBI treated the Kings. This was the best time, and the best way to bring up that point.

My Aside:
"President Bush, it's not that we don't think the surveillance is necessary, we just don't trust you with it. You've proven management incompetence many times now. Too many to ignore. Now, This Time, you want us to buy your story?"

We said good-bye today to someone what will be remembered beyond 4000 years from now. Her name will go down with the ones I mentioned earlier, and she will rest with Dr. King.

Welcome Alexandria Thompson

Welcome, Foolish Mortals, to the House of Thompson

At some point in my lineage, there was a man named Thomas. Through celtic, saxon, and gaelic regional accents, the a disappeared with the collapse of the lips when the completion of the letter m sound (eeeaaammm), and the resulting sound is an oemp, especially when Thomas is said fast. The as on the end of Thomas eventually became a son, somehow. The son part might have come from Son of Thomas, and MacThomas would the the Son of Thomas's son.

After some digging around, evidently the Thomas referred to in my namesake is the Thomas in the bible. That's right; Doubting Thomas. But the real interesting part is; my family is direct decendents from Mr. Thomas.

Yeah. I made it up. Hey, Dan Brown can do it! Anyway, after writing that, might be something I could take off with.

Little Alexandria Thompson was born to Mark and Nicole Thompson. I'm sure Ben Thompson, Alexandria's brother, was nearby. Mark called me this afternoon. Good job Mark and Nicole! Thanks for your donation to my social security fund.

That part about Alexandria is true. Seriously. Really. Honest.

What really matters is not where the Thompson family came from, but where it's going.

The word Dynasty, comes to mind.

Later Ya'll

Yes, I watched the Super Bowl. And the commercials. And the cheerleaders. And the dancers, especially the Seattle Sea Sluts (that's what Nancy called them). Then I got to thinking (that, my friends, is my usual preview words when you're about to enter Dannyland):.....

What if I was one of the few last people on earth, and disaster struck, and the Seattle Sea Sluts were the only girls left in the area. We'd have to repopulate. Can't you just imagine a couple'a hundred little Danny's running around? The earth would have been better of with the original disaster.

No...in reality, I'd windup being the last guy stuck with a convention of the womens meeting of The National Association of School Cafeteria Workers. I guess I'd have to do my duty. I'd give them the best 30 seconds of their lives.

When I first got to high school, and first saw our school cafeteria ladies, there was one really obese woman, and another looked like an anorexic marathon runner, except she didn't look that healthy. I could have sworn she wasn't a few years older than me. For the entire two years I remember her being there, I had to fight the urge to ask, "Are you what happens to people who don't finish High School?

At least the lady's would be able to cook.

I have more schoolwork to do, but I'm almost ahead in both classes. Staying ahead isn't really that hard. It's just a bit more time. Getting behind is what's hard. I'm learn that the main difference between the two is time management. Yeah....I know. It took me this long. Move along now.

It's getting closer to Art Festival time. Just a bit more than a month away. I'll be really busy during that time. I'll be glad when it's here, but I'm also glad when it's done.

I should have a new niece by now. I haven't heard anything yet. Hopefully, things are going well. Mark and Nicole are having a little girl; Lexie.

Chili's hip is getting better. She gets her staples out tomorrow. She looks like little Frankenchili.

I guess that's enough of Dannyland, for now.

Oh, and the "Later Ya'll" title? I think that would be an appropriate thing on my tombstone.

Privacy

I have really let you down. I've really slacked up on blogging. I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. Bad Blogger...Bad Blogger. I'll do better.

Today's entry is: Privacy
I'll let the intellectuals argue over the definitions and philosophies about privacy, and I'll try to give it a simple place. Privacy, as we knew it before 1900, is gone. Privacy as we knew it in the 70's is gone. As we knew it in the year 2000. It's gone.

In this day and time, it's become a fact of life that we are monitored in some form or fashion throughout our entire day. How do you think police find people, and they're not allow to go places the advertisters can go.

You get up in the morning, turn on the news (right now, your cable box is monitoring that you're watching CNN, how long you watch it, and when you switch channels). Check your email (always a trail online), grab your phone (some have GPS on them), and out the door. As you drive to work, traffic cameras monitor the flow of traffic (some hackers are skilled enough to break into those systems, and follow someone as they drive around town. In some cities, anyone can do it). You get to work, more than likely it will have cameras througout. If not, a location nearby can see. Almost anything you do at work, no matter WHAT job you do, is probably technologically monitored, in some way. It might be for the purposes of optimizing business systems, rerouting bottlenecks, controlling costs, theft prevention, you see where this is going. If you work at a computer, everything you do is probably tracked, simply by the way network systems operate, and the way packet data on the internet works. You're done with work (clocking out leaves a trail), and the camera monitors make sure everything is okay, or at least is recorded if it isn't, as you leave. Stop on the way home to get gas (cameras, debit card monitoring, total traffic monitoring for business information). You drive through the fast food (watched on camera at each point). Traffic cameras once again monitor the flow of traffic on your way home. You wave to your neighbors on your way home, hug and kiss you dog, kick your kids, and ignore your husband or wife. You watch TV again, (monitored for marketing purposes), surf the web, your kids us it to chat with their friend and pretend to do their homework, and your spouse continues their online affair they think they're hinding. Okay, I'm getting a bit dramatic, but I got your attention back, didn't I?

If someone wanted to, and had the skill, they could pretty much monitor you in some way all day long. Anywhere you go. The Satellite hobbiest say most of the continent can be seen at any time, if needed. Pretty much all the other continents too.

Sounds a bit paranoid, don't it?

It's not. It's the world WE live in. It's the world WE created.

No one is out there monitoring us. At least not one person. A couple of hundred, maybe, but all for different reasons; security, logistics, traffic control, marketing research, product flow marketing research (gas pumps), you can keep filling in the blanks here. If anyone, or a couple of people, are watching me, they're probably really board (or really entertained), and the only reason I'd be upset would be the waste of goverment money.
I'm assuming, of course, it was the government watching me.

We didn't trade Liberty for Security; we traded it for that reliable up of Latte on the way to work, 401k and health plan at our dictorially organized corporte jobs. We traded Liberty for direct deposit, and the ATM. We traded Liberty so that in San Francisco, the Big Mac would taste the same as it does where you live. We traded Liberty by making sure the poorest had just enough to satistfy them so they wouldn't uprise a revolution. We traded Liberty for that secure, familar, and reliable rut I described above.

Now, go back through that last paragraph, and replace word Liberty with Privacy (cut and paste onto note pad, then Find/Replace Liberty with Privacy).

The two seem to work together really well, don't they.

If privacy is truly gone, we must deal with it. Short of a planetary disaster, monitoring is not going to stop. Personally, my concern about all this is who's doing the monitoring. If it's just the government, we've got a problem. If it's just the criminals, we're a bit better off (peculiar, we'd be better off with the criminals, huh?). The only way to make sure such monitoring isn't abused is if it's readily accessible to everyone. When the information is available to everyone, it's renders the information difficult to abuse. Information is now a commodity. Those who have the control of it, will abuse it.

Yeah. I know. That don't quite sound right. But think about it.

Flesh Eating Bacteria

This afternoon, I went to a presentation on "Developing Your Portfolio". I thought we were going to grow mushrooms. But nooooo. They wanted to talk business, and experience, credentials, achievements, and other icky stuff.

I did come up with the idea of creating an online resume, and an online portfolio. Need to put some thought into that.

The presentation was for extra credit, for my speech class.

Then, I went to class, turned in my assignments, only to discover I missed one. Not a good pattern to get into if I'm going to be doing computer work.

Nancy's toe is really messed up. I'm pretty sure it's broke, at least the cuticle is damaged. It's swollen big, and she popped a pus bag from behind the nail. I'm glad I wasn't there. I'd a probably lost it. I thought she should go to the doctor, but she doesn't want to catch Flesh Eating Bacteria. Can't blame her on that.

I have 9900 overtime minutes on my cellphone. Think I should lower my plan?

Come to think of it, I don't really like mushrooms all that much.

Yeti

I've been having some problems getting this post done. I thought blogger was giving me problems. After some surfing through forums, it seems Firefox 1.07 is the problem. It sometimes has memory leaks, and causes the GNOME desktop for Linux to freeze up. I'll need to upgrade to Firefox 1.5, but I'm just sooo lazy. Linux may be better than Windows in some respects, but in others, it can be frustrating. Reminds me of the Windows 98 days. I guess I'd rather have crashes than Viruses, Spyware, and Adware. I have a 200 gig harddrive on my Linux Desktop. Way too big a harddrive for a computer. In my opinion, most computers don't need more than a 100 gig drive, and could probably do with just a 60 gig, so long as it's a fast one. The larger harddrives should be saved for storage of files, music, videos, etc. Whether you're using Windows, Mac, or Linux OSes, you're going to have to reinstall your OS, or upgrade/update your OS frequently, and issues come up. You'll need to be able to reinstall the OS quickly, without losing any of your files.

On Sunday, we went to Disney's Animal Kingdom, to see Expedition Everest.

Expedition Everest is awesome. The rollercoaster goes forwards, then backwards, the forwards again, all on different tracks. Throughout the ride, you have encounters with the Yeti.

Just as cool as the ride is the Q-line. It looks like you're walking through an actual Nepalese village.

The view through the Q-line makes the time go by much quicker. You get to walk through this courtyard, a small temple (supposedly to appease the Yeti), an explorers shack, and an exibit showing information about the Lost Expedition with some pictures showing what looks like a Yeti attack. Walking through the Q-line keeps you occupied by setting up the story for the ride.

Nancy liked the ride too. She wasn't too happy with the idea of standing in line for 2 hours -that's what we were told. Luckily, the Q-line is well designed to keep your attention by telling a story, and it really lasting only 45 minutes.

My classes are going really well. I'm looking forward to being able to do three or more classes at a time. Breaking into it again (doing 1 class, then 2 classes), and starting off with a perfect grade is a confidence builder. My studies in skill acquistion have helped too.

Speech Class

This is a picture of me in speech class.

So far, speech class is the only class that's felt like a 'class'. Not to say it's not fun. It is pretty fun. And it's pretty interesting too, probably more interesting than the Operating Systems class. I guess the Operating Systems class doesn't feel much like a class, and the homework doesn't feel like homework. It feels more like playtime. Speech, however, feels like homework. Friggin subjective subject classes. In subjective discipline (sounds like an oxymoron, huh?) classes, the teacher can actually say something like, "I disagree with you, so you get a BIG FAT F!" Even if you've done all the work, put your heart and soul into it, and produced something that most employees at Fortune 500 companies would say, "Huh?"

Objective subject matter (math, physics, etc) is much easier to get an A. Well, you've got to learn the stuff, but it's either right or wrong. If you get the right answers, you get an A.

Like he said in the movie, Stand and Deliver, "Math is the great equalizer." Kind of like the Pullups of school.

I wasn't sure what I should do my first informative speech on, till it hit me on the way home. I saw someone with a W sticker on their car. Ah, yes....The Skull and Bones! America's most successful Fraternity. At the very least, it will be interesting.

Security

I bet you're thinking I was going to talk political again.

Nope. This is worse, way worse. Can you say, "El Lame o". Hey, I couldn't think of anything else to blog. Sue me. And, if you are watching, Mr. Government, watch me care.

Anyway, this is about your computer, and about how to keep yours disinfected, no Trojan Horses up your computer ass, no worms coming out of it, and none of those tick-like creatures - rootkits. Yuck. And, we're going to keep the spys out, as best we can, and cut down on those friggin ads and Adware. If you're a Windows user, you're computer is under constant attack. Far more than with Mac or Linux. Windows has over 90 market share, so it's the one to go after. You you choose to continue with Windows, you also choose to become more educated in security, or choose to be more frustrated.

So, if you have a Mac, go ahead a scroll to the bottom of this post. Move along now. Nothing to see here. If you got a Mac, you're bases are covered.

I'm doing this partly to give you some help, but mostly to keep an online instruction for myself. Maybe it can help you.

Here are my recommendations:

1. Install and run an anti-virus program. I recommend AVG anti-virus. It's a good product, and it's free, but they make you work to get to it on their site.

   1. Also, you'll need to run some adware and spyware scanning too: Ad Aware is the first one to get, then Microsoft Anti-Spyware.

   2. Don't forget to make sure you're up-to-date an all your updates from Microsoft.

2. If you haven't already done so, start migrating your personal files off the harddrive.

   1. Ones that can be 'archived' burn them to disc (CD OR DVD), or put them on an external harddrive.

   2. Keep your primary files, and your day to day use files on a Jumpdrive. (sometimes called 'Flashdrive'). Keep a copy of them on your external harddrive. I recommend getting the biggest one you can afford, perferably a 1 gig drive.

3. The goal is to create you computer into a Operating System, Applications and Programs Machine. You can store whatever you want on the harddrive.

   1. Anything important, keep on an external harddrive, and I don't mean a copy. If you try to keep a running up to date copy, you'll never get around to it. Any daily work could be done on the jumpdrive.

   2. If you can't afford to purchase anything at the moment, create an account at Streamload/MediaMax. You can get 25 gig of free online storage with a 100 Mg of upload a month, so make sure your absolute priorities are uploaded first.

4. Make sure you have restore CD's for your computer where you'll know they are.

   1. If you don't have restore CD's, you'll have to buy a complete copy of Windows XP, or decide if you want to switch to Linux (it's free!). I'll do another writeup someday soonon that someday soon.
      

5. Now, you should have your files completely migrated over to some sort of external storage. Next, make a list of the most important applications and programs on you computer. The ones you can't live without.

   1. Think in terms of what you use the computer most for.

      1. Office work? - If you don't have a copy of Microsoft Office – not to worry. There is a very good solution for that.

      2. Pictures?- There are plenty of free picture editors online. Picasa is one. It's from Google, so hey, how bad can it be?

      3. Audio and Video stuff? - iTunes, Winamp, Windows Media Player Don't forget; you can use Real Player or Quicktime for audio files (mp3's). If you have very limited space on your harddrive, consider using one as your primary audio/video program. If you have or want an iPOD, you'll need to get use to iTunes. If you use a Pocket PC, like me, you'll need to get use to Windows Media Player. Try to avoid redundant programs. Unless you got a whoopass amount of storage.

      4. Surfing the Internet.

   2. Make sure you have the programs available. Now-a-days, most of them will probably be online for free. If not, make sure you have access to them, somehow. If you like to edit pictures, and you borrowed your friends copy of photoshop, you'll need to make sure he can loan it again.

6. Now, you're ready. If you've followed my advice so far, the most you've spent money in is for a USB jumpdrive. If you've spent extra money, you got an larger external harddrive. And you've uploaded files to your Streamload location.

7. If you're still having problems with your computer being slow, and it's topped out, or at least close, in physical memory, it's probably time to dump your entire system, and rebuild it over again. Think of it as starting fresh.

8. At the first sign of any problems, including consistent slowness:

9. Stick the restore CD in the harddrive, and get it to bootup. You're going to reload the system.

10. Go through the WindowsXP or XP Professional setup procedure. On some PC's, it can take almost an hour. Most, about 40 minutes.

11. Once you're up and running, don't be tempted to install of your programs just yet. It's not ready. You need to:

    1. If your computer came with restore CD's, but they don't have Windows XP SP2 on them, you'll need to update your service packs. You can do it online with the windows update utility.

    2. Once you have XP on, make sure your firewall is set to high.

    3. Keep doing Windows Update until there are no more updates left. Once all the updates are in, reboot the machine.

    4. Install or reinstall Grisoft AVG anti-virus. Once it's installed, make sure to run its update, and do a full system scan.

    5. Install or reinstall Lavasoft's Ad Aware. Update and run it.

    6. Install and Update Microsoft Anti Spyware. Run it. When it's done, reboot.

    7. Install and run Firefox. Use Internet Explorer only when necessary. Use Firefox for all other web surfing and other Internet activities.

Now your set to install your software. I'll give some recommendations on that in another post.

OnGoings
Schools going well. Something feels just plain wrong with homework being fun. Speech is a challenge for me.
My time management resolution, well, ....hasn't happened yet.
Chocolate has called my name to much.
My hip has prevented me from really exerting myself, so you can take a wild S.W.A.G (Scientific Wild Ass Guess) at how much working out I've done.

I am learning a lot on computers, and fast too.

Highland Games

Nancy, Shelly, Bob, and I went to the Scottish Highland Games today. The picture above is the different clans marching in. I'm part of Clan Cambell. Cam Beul means curved mouth in Gaelic. I guess it's appropriate for me, as one side of my face has slight nerve damage, making my smile go a bit sideways. Nancy is part of Clan Gunn. Evidently, Clan Gunn is direct Norse decent, so Nancy actually does have more Viking in her than she thought. I could actually be part of Clan Tavish, but Tavish is suppose to be part of Clan Cambell anyway. I prefer to be of Clan McBubba.

I love bagpipe music, and was able to hear a lot of it today.

I'm eventually going to get me a Kilt. This would be my tartan:

I could wear a Black Watch tartan, but from looking around, it might be disrespectful to do so, since I've never been in the military, especially the Scottish military.

I got to watch some of the different Highland Game events.

This was the hay toss. They were trying for 30 -something feet. I didn't see anyone make it. Most of the guys who compete are also Powerlifters, or Olympic Lifters. Some even compete in the World Strongest Man competitions.

This guy sat out the competitions:

Scissors

New post on DannyT Land.

Liberty

In today's modern society, it's easy to forget the princples that created this country, primarily Liberty. If you'll click on the Liberty link, you'll see a definition. What stands out to me is #2: freedom from unjust or undue governmental control.

The problem is, the more we ask government to help us, the more control they have. Basically, we asked the goverment to assume more control, the control is not undue. It may be unjust, but we still asked for it.

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759

I'm willing to bet most of you greatly agree with Mr. Franklin. I really like this quote:

If you want to be free, there is but one way; it is to guarantee an equally full measure of liberty to all your neighbors. There is no other.

Carl Schurz (1829 - 1906)

Read my previous post. Sounds a bit like what I think Google is trying to do.

Freedom can be inconvenient:

I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.

Thomas Jefferson (1743 - 1826), to Archibald Stuart, 1791

Most of those were said in a different era. An era where tyranny was how most governments work.

I bet by now, you think I'm going to complain about Mr. Bush. I don't need to do that. He does a good enough job. I'm talking about something else. Something insidious.

Indentured Servitude

I'll not bore you with detail about indentured servitude. I'll let you click on the links provided to learn more. Basically, it boils down to; party A owes party B big bucks, but party A has no money, so he or she works for party B until the dept is paid.

Can anyone say Visa? Master Card? Mortgage? The United States of America has become a nation of Indentured Servants. We owe, so we work. Credit is 'party B'. We do jobs, and work with people we can't stand because we owe. We keep buying more stuff to stifle our tension and anxieties, even if just for a short time. We're willing to pay 25% more for an item we put on credit. Most of the time, it's actually way more than 25%. If you purchase a meal for $50 on your credit card, even if you're paying more than the minimum, it can take years to pay down the full amont of the meal. That meal can actually cost you about $350 in the long run.

We have become servants to the credit companies. The own our servitude for years to come. If you actually were able to add up how much money is taken out in credit, that much actual cash, paper money, doesn't exist. There is no way everyone could ever be able to pay off credit bills. There just isn't enough money in circulation.

We no longer have Liberty. Just ask the collection agency.

My hip is much better today. It's almost gone, as though it had a flu or a cold.

I went to class tonight. Wouldn't you know it- I studied the the wrong things, and even did the wrong quizzes. I even had to do a presentation. I'd read the schedule wrong, and wasnt' prepared for class at all, but I impressed myself by actually pulling it together. I even winged a presentation. Not too bad of one, I think. Even when I was nervous, tired, had to pee really bad, and was on a bad attitude day, I just kept thinking, "I can handle it." When I was in High School, I wish someone had told me that was all there was to confidence; I can handle it.

I took a few pics today, but most of them were in class, and I don't think it would be the best idea post them here. At least till after finals.

Back to politics, for a moment; I'll stand on Patrick Henry's words before I believe one or Mr. Bush's. Or Kerry's. Or Hillary's.

Watching

Patriotic Americans are not happy, even those who support Bush. The NSA spying makes us feel squwigy. We can't quite explain it, but it just seems to go against our principles of Liberty. It seems a bit too much like secret police, Nazi, KGB. Probably because it IS something those organizations would do; not America.

Don't fool yourself. This type of thing has been going on for quite awhile. In the 70's, the headlines read, "CIA Spying on America's Home". Back then, we did wire taps looking for pinko commies. Now, it's for 'terrorists'. Bush supports this type of surveillance by saying it's his duty to defend Americans. My reply, "Mr. President, we appreciate your principle of protecting us. We don't like how you're doing it." At this rate, you'd get the idea that Bush is trying to get Hillary in office.

I have no doubt that Reagan, HW, and Clinton used this type of surveillance. We're pretty sure that Nixon did. But, in the hands of a person with poor management skills, like Bush, I don't trust it. Surveillance will continue, and probably increase. But, my question is; "Who's watching the watchers?"

There needs to be some sort of oversight organization to monitor this surveillance, and I don't trust the goverment to create it. So, I encourage the technology community to do surveillance on these watchers. Let's find out just who is watching us, and we can watch them.

Which brings me to my main point: Google. I believe Google's unwritten mission is to make sure all information is equally available to everyone. Information is going to be readily available, but if the goverment (or worse, advertisers) has primary access to it, it WILL be abused. The only way to insure that information isn't abused to to make it available to everyone. That means WE get to watch what's going on in government just as much as they watch us. If they're going to monitor us, we should be able to monitor them. And we will.

So, Mr. President, go ahead. Watch us. Just don't bitch when we start watching the watchers. The lesson here is: If you piss off a nerd/geek/hacker, your life will be put on complete public display.

So, for a start, make sure you're aware of the Executive Orders.

Other News

If you've been reading my blog regularly, you'll remember the tree that was hit by the truck. I'm willing to bet the driver got a lawyer, held his boss at fault for sending him out in a too tall truck, and held the city at fault for having limbs hang too low. The City of Winter Park cut the tree limb off, along with a few others, just in case.

I'm able to move a bit better now. As the pain calms down, I can tell it's my left hip, not my back that hurts. When I was a gymnast, I flew off Horizontal Bar one day, went out way past the mats, and landed on the concrete right on my hip. Since then, I've had off/on difficulties with it, once a year or so. Sometimes it's gone for a few year. Doing really difficult, dangerous, and high effort stuff doesn't bother it. Turning to get the soap in the shower, getting up out of the car, putting on a rollerblade is how I've irritated it so far. I'd probably be okay if I joined the circus - as long as I didn't take a shower or get in a car.

My classes are going well, so far. But then, I've only had one class of each. Time to study.

Cubeville and Pain

Sometime on Wednesday, I was getting up from the drivers seat of the car, and I felt a twinge in my back. I had that before, and knew I was going to have back issues the next day. Thursday was uncomfortable, and by the time my speech class came around, I couldn't find a position that didn't hurt. By the next morning, it was worse. I barely got through training my clients, and by lunch time had difficulty walking. Even after using the over-the-counter pain med cocktail, it wasn't getting any better. I had to call into work.

I don't like feeling this dibilitated. It does suck. But, at least I know it won't last too long. In a few days, it will calm down, and I can 'rehab' it, so-to-speak. It happens about once a year, but this one really took me down.

Other than my back, the communications class went well. I think this class might be a wee bit more difficult than my Operating Systems class. I forget how much busy work can be involved with school. The thing I like best about going back to school? This time, I don't care what the other kids think of me.

Oh, wait,....I didn't care the first time around.

Nevermind.

The difference for me this time, I think, is purpose. When I'm studying in my subject, it doesn't feel like studying; it feels like I'm playing. I think that's a good sign. I'm enjoying the learning the same way a kid would love playing with tonka toy dumptrucks in the sandbox. And soon, I'll get paid to play with my toys.

I don't yet have a vision for what I want to be doing in a few years, after I graduate. Technology can swing is so many different directions, so fast. Right now, I try to keep up with the up and coming trends, demands, interests, and stuff like that. Some trends I see right now are:

• Complete user controlled content - Satelite radio, iPod, iTunes, Video and Podcast downloads. People will have more control of when, where, and how the experience content. TV networks will lose ratings if they keep to a 'watch at this time' schedule. New musicians will become popular through iTunes, with free music.
• Less emphasis on the CPU speed, and more emphasis on FSB (Front-side Bus) speed. The fastest processors are still limited by the FSB speed. Other things need to catch up on speed before the real speed of the current crop of processors can really be experienced.
• As some of the Linux Distributions improve, and readily work on Laptops, it will gain in popularity, especially among the lower income users. Second hand hardware, and Linux Fedora, Ubuntu, and SuSE are really good alternatives to Windows and Mac OS. The fact that they are free, and come with a complete office suite, internet browser, etc, make them a hard thing to beat. You might not see a whole lot of new linux programs this year, but you should see current popular programs creating a Linux version.

Somehow, I'd eventually like to be involved in helping low income people get access to the internet with their own computer. I really liked the MIT "One laptop per child" initiative, but. Recycled hardware and Linux will give many people reliable internet access. It might not be part of my future job, but maybe I could do something toward that type of volunteer work. I'm sure it's out there.

Cubeville, here I come.

Entertainment

Todays Blog brought to you by:

If your computer is slow, increasing memory will give it a boost. I like how 18004memory.com makes it easy to find the right memory for your specific computer.
Okay, commercial over.

I'm curious what I want to do with my education. By the time I finish school, several new technologies will be available. It would be nice if I could create something. I do think the future of computers and technology is primarily with entertainment and news. Security will be another hot issue.

Uh oh. I feel another ad coming on. I...I can't stop it. It's just too big:

I'm sorry. Couldn't help it. Just had to get that out.

Time to study.

Some Days

Some days, I just can't think of what to write about. Seems to be that way lately. Not quite writers block, but annoying anyway. I'll post more. Hey, at the very least, I'll throw and ad up, or two.

This is a picture of the monorail station at the Ticket and Transportation Center for the Magic Kingdom. Can you tell when this picture was taken? Was it 1972, or 2006?

Luckily, some things don't change at Disney. Here's to hoping the Haunt Mansion remain as timeless.

Speaking of The Haunted Mansion, most who know me know that I'm a Haunted Mansion (HM) collector. Not sure how and why that came to be, but that's pretty much the only collector thing I do. I have a pretty basic collection, and when I have enough to take care of a few commitments and some left over, I might pick up another few trinkets.

I have kept my client list down lately, not doing so much on marketing. Mostly, I think, because I wanted to be sure I had time available for classes. Now that I have the classes, I can do a bit more marketing. I'll keep my training limited to the mornings.

I started class tonight. I was late. That sucked. Really sucked. I'm rarely late to work mostly because I have a routine that keeps me on schedule. When things that aren't part of my routine, I can get out-of-sync, and wind up late. One of those things that really suck about ADD, I guess. Makes us seem aloof or even arrogant. I missed a turn in the dark, and wound up ten minutes late. Had I not missed the turn, I would have been on time. The professor had just started on some material. Luckily, I knew the material already. My first thought was, "Oh, we're reviewing?" But, it was new material for some.

Part of the class involves using Linux. Luckily, I've been using it, as you can see below. Linux and Unix aren't too different, from what I can tell, and I've used Mac OS X, but not NetWare. I'm hoping to get my hands on .....

Oh God. I've gone and geeked out.

More Fedora

These are a couple of shots of my current Fedora Linux desktop. To use Windows -now-a-days, you have to be a security expert. Home users should go with Mac, or Linux. Don't get me wrong; Microsoft Windows is a good product. But, it's so popular it gets the most attacks, viruses, trojan horses, and rootkits. If you have a desktop, I recommend installing Fedora or Ubuntu Linux.

Update

I've been a miss at keeping my blog postings regular. That's pretty bad, seeing as how I wanted to do more Blogging this year, and try to make somewhat of an income from it, even if just to fill up my gas tank here and there.

New Years Eve, we went to our friend Sherrie's home for a party. I had fun. Got a little drunk -I think most people would call it tipsy, though- and had fun.

Danny Before Drinking

Danny Drunk

I sang, "I left my heart in San Francisco."
I may not have sounded good at all, but at least I looked good doing it.

At the request of the FBI, CIA, Homeland Security, NSA, the Pope, and leaders of the five major religions, Nancy doesn't drink. But she had fun anyway. All the above should still be worried. Very worried.

We spent New Years Day like most everyone else; doing nothing. Recovering. On Wednesday, we went to Disney- Magic Kingdom, and had dinner at the Crystal Palace. If you'll click on my flickr badge, you'll can find the pictures of Nancy hugging a few of the Plushy fetish people.

Lastnight, we saw Brett play soccer. It was cold, so very cold. Stephen came to the game, and to see me. I had a good time seeing them again. I miss them.

Resolutions and Predictions

I was going to rehash the year, but Nancy did a good job of it. Read it here:

NancyWD’s Blog

My Resolution – I only have one resolution: Practice good Time Management.
I know how to manage my time, and when I do, I do well. When I do plan my time on a weekly basis, I get a lot done. I get a momentum going, and get better each week. The problem is when I don’t plan, momentum the downwards direction twice as fast as upward. It seems the laws of gravity, momentum, and friction apply to more than just our physical surroundings.

Predictions
I have lots of these, so I’ll put each one in a category.

Economy

The economy will pretty much continue as is, for quite a while. While it seems were in a slow economy, it’s still fairly stable nationally.

In the future, economic ups and downs will be retained in smaller areas, much more regionally. Because of the world economy, the other regions will have only small bumps in economic change. More likely, economic problems will happen mostly in specific cities, and outlying areas, but as close as sixty miles away will have a economic booming city.

Cities will fight more for growth, and citizens will fight against it. They will have up/down cycles, and the citizens of cities will become more transient in nature. Mostly people will move as much as every five years.

Construction and housing will react to this, and move with the cycles. As construction companies become more agile, they’ll move with the economic trends. Construction companies will become larger, more national, and more general. Like Microsoft, larger construction companies will buy smaller ones. Construction workers will need to be portable.

In 2006, we will see some areas continue the housing surge, and some areas start to back down. We will also see an outcry against the oversized homes. Buyers of oversized homes will examine their purchase, and frequently decide to downgrade. Toward the end of 2006, the trend toward oversized homes will stop.

Politics

The divide between conservatives and liberals will become greater, but both will begin to agree against President Bush’s domestic policies. Whether or not people agree about Iraq, and how the war on terror is being fought, they adamantly do not like the idea of the National Security Agency spying on us. We will see hearings, probably closed-door, on past warrents Bush signed, and reasonable cause questioned.
While many people agree with his principle, more and more people do not agree with Bush’s practices. Even many Republicans call him the “Fake Republican President”.

Technology

Things are headed in a very certain direction:
1. The PC will be integrated into the Cell Phone/PDA, and other external parts will give it Home PC functionality
2. Software on the PC will become less. Web services and online software like a web version of MS Word will increase in demand. A PC will need to keep only a few programs. The webbrowser will be most important.
3. Systems that are small, cheap, and continuously provided internet will become popular. Operating systems (Windows, Mac OS, and Linux) will focus on simplicity, small design, and multi useful – it will need to be able to convert instantly from cellphone to desktop.
4. Windows Vista will probably be the beginning of the downfall of Microsoft. This doesn’t mean that Windows Vista is not a good product- that remains to be seen. But, Vista will need higher requirements for hardware, and most people are tired of having to upgrade their machines every two years.
5. With outdated Window machines, consumers will convert to free Linux systems, and continue using these ‘legacy machines’. Linux will increase in popularity, especially the Fedora and Ubuntu distributions.
6. The Linux community is making a special effort to get into the mainstream consumer, and lower income consumer. With more people becoming familiar with that systems, it will carry into the workplace, then the home.
7. Google will produce their own low cost PC, with a Google Linux Distribution. It will become the best selling PC.
8. Apple will pretty much remain a fixed commodity, unless the provide a PC version of MacOS. If that happen, you’ll see a hugh conversion to Mac, and Microsoft will fall behind.
9. OpenOffice will replace Microsoft office fairly quickly.
10. The iPod will have more competitors, but will continue to dominate the market. The novelty of the video pod will wear off, as far as watching action or dramatic TV episodes. But, Video Podcasting will take off. People will begin producing their own video content, news shows, talk shows, expose`, etc. The video iPod will have a market. I’d bet my money on companies that will provide software, services, and deliveries of Videocasting.
11. The cellphone will become the center of everyone technological life. It will become much more than a cellphone. It will become everyone’s portable connection with the entire world, at their fingers.

Education

Our education system is out of date, and cannot properly teach our children well enough to prepare them for the future. It not the education systems fault either.

Our society still runs it’s schools on agricultural/industrial age models, not today’s information age. Our schools have no other model to go by, and the examples provided by other countries aren’t much better. How the education system will look in the future is an unknown, but something has to change.

1. The K-12 age/grade system must go. It hold back the kids who can excel in a specific area, and is too fast for other kids. In the future, each kid will not be in a specific grade. They will be at different levels at different stages of the educational career.

2. The large structure model for schools is too costly, to encumbered, and cannot deliver material efficiently. The classroom, itself, will go away.

In 2006, you’ll begin to hear serious examination of the education structure in the USA. News, talk shows, possibly even congress will get in on the discussion. It may even be a serious point in the next presidential election. Personally, I’d go with whichever side is willing to try something different.

News and Newspapers

Blogs, Podcasts, and Videocasts will put a serious crunch on the current news media, especially newspapers. People will be able to find the news specific to them, and read, view, or listen to it at their convenience (education should take note of that). Newspapers and Magazines with an online presence will have to become free to compete.

The online blogs, podcasts, and videocast will increase in popularity. Super camera cell phones will allow anyone to become an instant video news reporter. People will compete for online popularity. Some will do well enough to make a full time income with it. In 2006, expect to see a lot of these pop up, and three Indies will come out on top.

In 2006, the newspapers will show discontent with online providers, and lawsuits will rage back and forth. In the end, just as predicted, the Fourth Estate will die a slow death.

New Raves

A hot new job this year will be time management consultants. For a reasonable fee, a time management professional will be able to help you reach your goals by proper planning. They will be your “Personal Time Coach”. This will become a fast growing online franchise, and actually produce pretty good results. Other accompanying products will emerge. Time Management will be the key to success in the knowledge worker age.

Now you see my purpose in working on better time management.