We need more signs…

I love listening to the modern philosophers, or what we call stand-up comics. Yes, stand-up comics are philosophers; why? They look at the world around them and, like Plato, or the many Zen masters, ask the questions we all have bouncing around in our heads. One of the routines that I’ve always enjoyed is the discussions around people doing things they shouldn’t—the Reason De’tre for the Darwin Awards. People are doing things they shouldn’t do, and then the world is reacting. Someone, once drove up to a McDonald, and ordering coffee in the morning, ended up burning themselves.

Their lawsuit (which they won) noted that coffee cups don’t warn you that they are hot. So, McDonald’s and every other place that serves coffee to go has a warning on it now. Coffee is hot. There are many signs like that globally, and comics often notice those signs and mention them; that is why I call them philosophers because they point out the idiosyncrasies of the world around them. We could if we wanted as a society, go crazy with signs. For example, signs on every single person, “I am likely contagious with something.” Look, it better not be Covid, but likely you are carrying something with you.

Those signs should be mandatory in some cases. (I am unvaccinated, I refuse to wear a mask.) I understand that people don’t like masks. I don’t either. I carry one in my pocket while I walk. I also move more than 6 feet away from anyone I encounter. I put my mask on when I cannot move away from other walkers. But that isn’t the only sign that should be put up! I also want signs the mark where potholes continue to grow. You can tear your car up, hitting the wrong pothole. This section of road, slick when wet! This building has a leaky roof barrier and often released a lot of water in the rain.

We need more signs!

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Science is not the enemy…

The Catholic Church excommunicated astronomer Galileo Galilee for refusing to recant his scientific discovery that the earth was not the center of the universe. Fast forward a few hundred years, and most religious scholars agree that the earth is not the center of the universe. Science and spirituality can get along with each other. Or science struggles are free repudiation. As a wise man once said, you can say anything you want to say; the only question is can you prove it. People have a lot of misconceptions about what science is and what science isn’t. It’s quite simple if you consider science in and of itself; its sole purpose is to create and then the finding of either prove or disprove for hypotheses. That’s all that’s its science in a nutshell. Someone comes up with an idea they cannot quickly disprove, so other scientists look at the idea and either prove or disprove it.

Galileo Galilee was excommunicated not based on facts. Galileo Galilee was excommunicated because he dared to refuse to recant facts. So the interesting reality of covert 19 being fake, and the intent is for the government to put a microchip in every human being on earth, while they already failed with that. At best, in the major developed countries, there is 70% microchip. At worst, there’s much more of the world that doesn’t have the vaccine today. My hypothesis is quite simple; if I wanted to get a microchip and every American, I would not waste my time on the fake virus. I would cut a wide swath across the American population and put the microchips in fast food. Once I got the 80 to 90% of Americans that eat at fast-food restaurants, I would come back to get the more health-conscious people by embedding microchips in healthy food. If you want to do something, there are better ways than fake virus vaccines. The sad reality is to ask any one of the 600,000+ Americans who died how fake Covid is.

The number of people in the US getting vaccines is taking upward. More and more people are throwing away their hypothesis because, frankly, the Delta variant has truly made it very difficult not to be vaccinated. I truly hold that that uptick is soon enough to begin the stem tide. Because frankly, the Delta very it didn’t exist until it hit a massive population of unvaccinated people. Remember the Delta virus never existed and tell Covid hit India. That is not me, by the way blaming India for the Delta variant. It is simply a statement of reality you get a large group of unaccented people together, and they bounce that virus back and forth enough you’ll end up with a new variant that will get around vaccines and put us all back where we were—sitting in our home offices, trying to figure out what to do next. So having gotten vaccinated, one gets vaccinated. Honestly, the likelihood is you won’t get Covid. But you might give it to your best friend. The reality of scientists is that they like to prove or disprove things. Someone puts forth a hypothesis, and scientists test that hypothesis. Because you don’t like that information presented, calling it fake is shortsighted.

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Changing video doorbells

Over the last eight years, we’ve had three different video doorbells systems. The first system we had was a company called sky Dell. It was one of the first, and it did not do well in competition with the ring. We switched to our new doorbell integrates with the control for automation system the ring device including ring and shine about five years ago. The ring devices were nice, a good job, but we decided to switch one more time. We decided to switch the doorbell system that was integrated with our home automation system. One of the reasons for that was that our home automation system announced integration with the video doorbell system. So we switched to Chime.

As the world of home automation continues to evolve, the concept of integration becomes a critical path. The beauty of the control4 system is that once installed; the entire system is integrated. For example, I was on my walk yesterday when someone rang our front doorbell called my phone. I wasn’t home. The twins were, but they never answer the doorbell. I quickly spoke to the person and told the Amazon driver to leave the package on the front porch. It was funny to see the box contained a new pair of walking shoes for me, so I found out about my new walking shoes while walking from my video doorbell. I recall that I really, but I’d rather wear a wrinkly shirt than deal with irony.

One of the other cool things about her home automation packages that it integrates with Alexa. We can have Alexa Turner lights on and off, open our garage door closer garage door using only our voice. That is my favorite part of the automated house in sci-fi movies. When the person walks around talking to their house. At some point, there’s going to be greater integration between the home automation system and your day-to-day life. The concept of an inbound call to your cell phone when you are home will mean that the call will go to the home automation system. You will be able to walk around your house and still be in the same color. It’s okay to talk to your house anytime you want. It’s not okay to talk at your house, because sadly, the home automation system controls the locks. And locks can be changed when people are outside. I will do a full review of the chime video doorbell in a couple of weeks. For now, I have to say it’s awesome!

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On Organization and email…

I like the book “About a boy.” I enjoyed the movie with Hugh Grant as well, but I like the book more. One of the reasons I like the book is that there is a book about breaking your day into smaller increments. I started doing that after reading the book. Break your day into the 15-minute interval and set your goal to accomplish something you need to get done in that 15 minutes. One of the things that I then try to do is figure out how to get larger tasks done; those tasks take more than 15 minutes in a typical day. So I break the 15 minutes up into two categories, the first working on the bigger project and the second finishing up a project that I can get a jump in the time slot. It means the second or smaller project has to be done no five minutes of. So I start every day with the initial 15-minute task of reading all the unread messages in my inbox.

I quickly assess my inbox when I launch my mail client to see sometimes that’s the big task for that 15-minute interval. Sometimes it’s small. Sometimes it takes many more than 20 minutes to clear out all the stuff in my inbox. That organizational system has held up well for the last few years, but lately, I find that I’m struggling with it. More because I have tasks that last multiple days. I spend little time thinking about a new system, but I haven’t implemented it yet more because it’s never easy to change a system like that. One of the things that I do and will continue to do is that inbox assessment. And the reason for today’s post has to do with the fact that I’m curious about some of the mail I get in my email inbox. I don’t get as many of the scam emails I used to get, not that I miss them, just that I don’t get as many. I’ve noticed that these spam filters on the personal email boxes I use and the company-level email I use are much less spam now. As the filters get better and better and better, the number of spam decreases. I did talk to a buddy of mine that runs a male system for the company; they still reject around the same number of spam messages every day.

The reason for that is that I’ve noticed the number of spam telephone calls on both my cell phone and home line has increased radically over the last two years. And I’m not talking about a small increase; I’m talking about a huge increase. There was a time when I would get ten calls in a day on my cell phone. Of those ten calls, six would be work-related to would be personal and to would-be span; my work phone use has increased, so I’m probably at eight called a day now and probably still the two personal calls a day, but the number of spam calls went from two days to about 12 to 15 a day. So I thought I would share a couple of things. First of all, my cell phone has never been assigned to or connected with the vehicle that I own. Therefore calling my number and telling me my vehicle warranty is expired is only to get me to hang up. Calling my cell and letting me know I’ve 18 free vacations that I have to pay $99 for isn’t something I’m interested in either. I can promise you that if I didn’t reach out to you on the day of the Internet, I’m not interested in getting called. Not sure that this will do any good, but in the end, seriously, don’t call me!

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The world is a better place, because of the desire to explore space…

First of all, is a disclaimer, I’ve been a NASA fan for many years. I should work for a former NASA CIO. The reality of NASA depends on how you look at it. Nine or ten businesses were generated by NASA research that resulted in billion-dollar businesses. A billion-dollar business is called a unicorn. Some of those billion-dollar businesses now are huge. From graphic chips to small LCD screens to the cell phone you’re holding, all of those things were improved by technology developed for and by NASA. So I believe that the new space race is a good thing. First of all, the goal to commercialize space and make it available for all I think is valuable. I also believe that the privatization of space is good because it isn’t the government controlling it. John F Kennedy famously said we would do the hard things. We will land a man on the surface of the moon and returning him safely to Earth by the end of the decade.

A lot of that decade left when Neil Armstrong emerged from the Eagle and stepped on the moon’s surface. The first human being in recorded history to leave the surface of Earth and land on a foreign entity. July 22, 1969. As I said, there was not much decade runway left from the 1962 John Kennedy speech. The concept of space is an intriguing and interesting one. One of the interesting concepts is the concept of terraforming the planet Mars. Terraforming is the process by which a planet is made to be more like Earth. In the case of Mars, it would be the generation of a thicker atmosphere. Including one that had a lot more oxygen in it. I don’t know that we can do that with the technology we have today, but someday, hopefully, we will do that. Many great scientific minds have looked beyond the atmosphere of Earth to wonder what’s there?

But I’ll end with the attribute Gene Roddenberry. Creator of the television series Star Trek. Most of us have probably heard the opening sequence Star Trek played on the Theremin. To boldly go where no man has gone before. I would, in a modern retelling, make it people. To remove the more sexist and plain man and replace that with people. To boldly go where no humans have gone before. But as the quote goes, you can’t litigate his Canterbury work, for he can’t even replace history. History makes you angry; get angry and make sure it never happens again. But in fairness to Gene Roddenberry and his creation Star Trek, it was a monumentally unique view of the world. Roddenberry saw the best of us in Star Trek. That is what space travel has always meant to me—an opportunity for all of us to grow into the best of us.

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/Walabot ON iOS!!!!!

There are a few crowdfunding companies that I truly adore. I just found out over the weekend that one of them, Walabot, now has an iOS application. This is a tool that allows you to see what’s behind walls. Not concrete walls You can see some things behind a concrete wall but not anywhere near what you expect, but I don’t think there’s anything other than a massive ground penetrating radar system that could see through a concrete wall. Walabot gives you the ability to use sonar to see into walls. I’ve used it at work, I’ve used it at home, and I’ve used it at a friend’s house. The software has improved steadily over the last three or four years. And I have to say the company is a great crowdfunding success!

Them releasing an iOS at is incredible. I’m kicking myself because I didn’t realize it. Honestly, the only reason I still have my work phone is that it’s an android phone, and it could run the app for me. Now that there’s an iPhone version, I no longer need to have my android phone. It’s the only device I’ve ever found that lets you do that. Add to that a laser measuring device, and if I were allowed to do home improvement projects, they would be a lot easier. Due to a home improvement project in Cincinnati, Ohio, that took a year longer than promised and ended up having to be finished by contractors, and I am no longer allowed to do big home improvement projects. But I am allowed to do smaller ones, and finding within the wall is very useful.

I would offer to share a video of what’s behind my wall, but I’m not sure that would be particularly relevant to anybody but me. But I will post a more detailed review of the new iPhone software. I’ve only used it for a couple of days, and so far, it’s just as easy to use as the android version of the app. But I have used the app for a long time, so I don’t know if that is my experience with the application and the expectations or that the iOS app is just really easy. I would have to be careful when I do reviews because sometimes the things that I’m interested in really aren’t things that people as a whole are interested in. But the Walabot paired with soon to be released. X drill could be a way for me to get back in some home renovation projects. It will allow me to determine precisely where I need to hang or where I need to add things. And then, with the drill, precisely hit that spot. Maybe my wife will let me do home improvement projects again!

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To know, to understand and to use

The concept of connectivity is one I’ve changed for many years. It is in part because I was trying to build out Knowledge systems in the past. Information at your fingertips is the operative phrase there. One of the things that I find interesting now is the ability to have multiple inputs from devices (Internet of Things) connected to you. I always tell people that ask, why do you care about the weather at your house. Put, knowing what is happening at your own house can be different than what is happening where you are or in a nearby city (Washington DC is near us, normally year-round, it is 4-8 degrees warmer than where we live)!

But the connection is also about using the information. How you get information and what you do with that information is the critical thing. People go to search engines to find answers to problems. Sometimes when people have to chase the answers, they give up. My rule has always been a chase for 3 hours; if that doesn’t work, call! But the reality of information is that there is more information available now at our fingertips than ever before. It is important to get information; however, that is critical for you. It isn’t just getting information quickly; and it is about using information.

The framework within us that we use to acquire information varies as we age. In part because we have experience now. Experience (something similar to this happened, we did this, and it solved the problem) is a great tool for initial troubleshooting. Know how things should work is important. Knowing how things work is important. But knowing how things worked before the tool being used worked can make a difference. The reality of good problem solving is listening to new ideas, understanding how things used to work, and blending that with what isn’t working today. My grandfather always used to say, “it is ok not to know. Just ask questions!”

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What happens to pictures from RedLight cameras if they can’t identify the person?

I live near the city that seems to have the most automated traffic systems of any in the world. It probably does not, but Washington DC has a huge number of speed cameras and red-light cameras. You get a USPS delivered piece of mail with a picture of your car and the note that you ran a red light or were speeding. They are interesting, but the technology behind them is even more intriguing. First off, it is the integration of network, camera, and motion sensors. But it is also taking pictures of people (in the driver’s seat of the car) and the license plate.

If you have an EZ-Pass, they need to ping the EZ-Pass to get information about you. That is their backup data point to the license plate. Few people in the DC area do not have EZ-Pass installed because there are several tolls, and if you don’t have one, you get a letter from the DOT (MDOT, for Maryland, VDOT for Virginia. I’ve never gotten one from DC proper, so I don’t know what theirs is). It is an automated way for the State and Local police to, in theory, reduce speeding in some areas. The police still set up manual speed traps, but there are many more automated speed traps overall.

It is cool technology, and the part that interests me is the motion detector. It is an automated turn on – my guess is if the system is well built, they have a sensor about a ¼ mile away from the cameras that notify the camera (over fiber, the information would travel at the speed of light, considerably faster than even the fastest car can go). The camera then snaps the picture, and the person gets a bill. I am curious about whether the driver and the license plate are obscured (some devices do that on purpose). What happens to that image? It can’t be sent to a person because no person was identified.

Inquiring minds want to know!

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sometimes all that comes out is a jumble…

Jim Collins wrote two excellent books that I’ve read several times. The first one I got from an old boss but 15 years ago now. That book, good to great, introduced the hedgehog concept. The other book Collins and team, was how the mighty fail. That book walks through why companies disappear. Or legitimately, why they cease to function in the form, they were functioning before. It isn’t speaking of companies as strategic entities rather what and how they do business in terms of the market and why their market share disappears. There are many other business books that I’ve read that I find incredibly useful. The Blue Ocean strategy is one I’ve spoken of many times. Malcolm Gladwell’s tipping point is one that I find particularly interesting, not just for business. The tipping point works for politics and social interactions. In fact, over the years, I’ve looked at communications patterns and communications anti-patterns. One of the things I’ve noted is an anti-pattern focused on finding the tipping point that a person’s frustration. Not quite sure what the anti-pattern name is yet, but certainly, the behaviors are known.

But today’s topic isn’t about communications patterns or why companies fail. It isn’t even about the business book library. All of us have to go to books, things that we found incredibly useful over the years—those of the things that, as we move forward, become very important. Perhaps today is best served by the title a well-organized jungle jumble. Or possibly just a jumbled of disorganized, disconnected discontinuous thoughts. There are days when the ability to focus is holy and completely dedicated to the things I have to do. Today’s one of those days I have many things the dual work, so my focus is on getting those things done. What that lets my brain do is a wonder. And in that wandering, you get the disorganized jumble. Normally in this state of mental discontinuity, I would do a review. But honestly, today, I didn’t even feel like doing a review.

One of my father’s favorite things was around to it. He had a button that was round and had the phrase to it on. That way, when you said I’d do it when I get around to it, he would hand you the round to it. Yes, my father had the same sense of humor I do. Or maybe I have the same particular as my father. I guess today, in the end, is around toit blog! I guess they can’t all be great blogs. If they were all great blogs, if every single blog I ever wrote were so brilliant that everybody had to read it, I would probably be in a Plexiglas box in the US Library of Congress. As far as I know, no writer in the history of the world was ever placed in a Plexiglas box inside the Library of Congress to turned out brilliant blogs. I don’t care what writer you pick, I don’t care what writer you love, but every single one of them had a few clunkers. Even those authors who wrote rewrote, rewrote, rewrote, and rewrote their stuff over and over until it was perfect still had bad stuff that they cut and left on the bedroom floor. The day is not the best blog ever. Thanks for reading!

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The influence of Science Fiction

Technology, it’s been my passion well as long as I can remember. In partly for me because there was a time when I was disconnected from technology. When we lived in Thailand, what had been a staple of my Saturday mornings was gone. We weren’t able to watch cartoons anymore. I got into reading and started reading the science fiction collection at the school I was going to. I’ve often shared this story, but I read all the science fiction books the school library had. The school librarian interestingly terrified most of my friends at the time. But she and I often spoke books. She was a fan of Sir Arthur C Clarke, and we often discussed his views of the world. In particular, we talked about 2001. When I read 2001, it was without a doubt the most interesting view of the art of the possible and technology futures. The funny thing is if you look at the movie 2001, it holds up in the sense that the technology envisioned by Clark in his book was pretty close to real by 2001.

In the movie and the book, there is an artificial intelligence called Hal. Technically it’s called the HAL 9000. HAL controlled the ship; for me, that was the interesting part of the book. The birth of the Star Child that occurs at the end certainly was probably the most epic scene in the movie. But for me, the interesting reality was the concept of artificial intelligence going insane. The argument between the intelligence and the astronaut is that the astronaut unplugged the intelligence from its memories and was incredibly interesting. For me, that spiked my interest in technology. I found myself reading many, many authors. When we returned from Thailand, I volunteered at the library and Bloomington, Indiana. I would bring 35 books home, and two weeks later, I would go back to volunteer help store books and get another 35 books.

From that comes my love of technology. Now I have, over the years, get on the technology for technology sake bandwagon a few times. And one of the things that I do point out in my futurist series is that I have guessed wrong several times. It’s funny sometimes when I look back at some of my predictions and then look back at some of the books I used to read. I have realized that many of my future predictions for technology were influenced by books I read many years ago. I think I can trace back various interests in technology the specific authors that I take the time. Over the years, I’ve dabbled that many different areas of technology remain my passion. But lately, I’ve come to realize that some aspects of what technology has created, or less valuable than I would’ve projected. You asked me in 1996 the value of the Internet; I would’ve said infinitely. You asked me today. I’ll tell you extremely limited. I guess the evolution of our thinking is not just the consumption of books. It’s not just the creation of technology. Sometimes it’s how the technology comes to pass.

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