Our Internet Today... and Yesterday

Nuts. I'm not 100% loving Facebook, but it's nice nationally and internationally to have a platform from which to easily and at least somewhat usefully do so. To do what? All that Facebook kind of stuff. Obviously.

Graphic from ITPulse

I started on the internet back in the late 80s.

I was involved in it, took classes in it, worked in IT (Internet, intranet technologies and...information technologies) in a variety of ways, jobs, levels and orientations.

It's amazing to see how far we've come. For that matter, how far I've come, as I've retired from IT and now am a full time author and filmmaker with at least ons screenplay in hopefully the right hands in Hollywood.

I even wrote a short sci fi story about America, the internet and media titled, In Memory, Yet Crystal Clear. It is recently available as of June 2018 as an audiobook as well as ebook. It was my first fiction sold to a horror quarterly back in 1990 and is the first story in my book of my older sci fi and horror fiction, Anthology of Evil. I have a sequel coming out of my newer writings, many of which have been published in magazines or anthologies with other authors.

Graphic from Zcorum

This Internet today is simply not what we wanted, in what we're seeing today. Like the Internet of things. Though it has surpassed the imagination of what many of us has conceived. We had wanted an internet free for everyone, where information was free to all... and open.

Much has even disappeared from online, or has become a fee based access situation. Overall, the Internet has benefited us all, if only we can get back some of our original orientation, if only we could counter some of the for profit issues and get back to the betterment of humanity.

At first for us it was, "information is free!" It should be Free! "The Internet is for Humanity!" Not big money! Not big business. Certainly not for Russia to alter our national elections!

Back in the 80s, if someone tried to sell something in the newsgroups back then in the beginning, or the middle, the late 80s, where we had mostly text based newsgroups, FTP, Telnet, Gopher, whatever text based stuff, they were crushed. Ostracized.

When the graphical internet, the World Wide Web, WWW, what came to be known as the internet as the dark parts sunk into the dark web...money started creeping its way in. A few of us pushed to keep it out until (I for one) realized that it was far bigger than us and far too powerful (money's like that) and that it could serve a good purpose. But then would obviously take a darker course. Simply because...it's inevitable.

Eventually I got it, as did others, but it worried me\us.

 I learned, I got educated about it, I took many classes. I worked in IT. First as a technical writer, then deeper and deeper into the mechanics of it all. Which led as it has to, to security. Something I'd been into before at a more physical level.

Graphic from Latest Internet News

I had stumbled into something awesome. Something that led to Internet security people and police as well as intelligence people at all levels and the government. Something I was headed into before. The great Soviet had died but that education and those skills were all still relevant.

Now here we are. We need a place for everyone to use. Not fractured, but cohesively. Not to polarize, but to feel to feed ourselves intellectually and other ways. To share with like, but also unlike minds.

We need this. It protects us. It also attacks us. Sometimes from those we elect or pay to protect us. Openness, transparency. THAT protects us. That and being able to share and openly so.

I don't care if it's Facebook or not. Or as I proposed in my above mentioned story, In Memory, Yet Crystal Clear, where the United Nations builds its own "Facebook" social media platform. Using experts from around the world to build it, all the best minds. It replaces Facebook. Everyone the world over uses it.

Photo from Daily Maverick

So that when any dictator or government shuts its people off from it, the UN pays attention, and immediately sends in moderators, "blue hats", to protect the people and stop more abuse as we've seen so much through the end of the last century and the beginning of this new one.

It became what it could become, as with Facebook or Twitter in the Arab Spring, or other national travesties. I had done my best back in 2011 to support that movement in Egypt and some did use my blog back then for updates to information their government was trying hard to keep them from. It was a hopeful time, that devolved into mediocrity, much as America has with the election of Donald Trump as president.

Before Facebook it was MySpace, which has changed into a music platform. Before that, there were others. Before that there were the BBSs, the Bulletin Board Systems you used a modem to dial your phone and PC up to.

Before that...well, it's been around for a while. This ability to communicate world wide. In the late 1960s when I was in jr. high and had a radiotelegraph license and could run a ham radio. I talked to other countries and wrote it all down as is normal procedure for hamm operations.

Before that it was telephones and before that, the telegraph. Although that technology was by a select few of trained and paid individuals, a kind of subculture grew up around it and telegraph stations across the nation. There are even very interesting books on that culture.

But we don't do that anymore. Though, we kind of do. Don't we? Everything now is recorded and saved, somewhere. And, we need that. For history, for our protection. For our coming together. For humanity growing closer, rather than continuing to take advantage of those less knowledgeable, less powerful, less whatever. But we're seeing humanity growing more apart. Why? We need to work on that, and turn things around, to be sure.

In that way we can make those others and ourselves, more than. Not less. Because as we're seeing, too many are trying to make us all, less than we can be. I'd really prefer to be more, for us ALL to be more than we are. Even if I don't always win. Even if I don't become rich. Even if I can't, have everything.

Graphic from WordlessTech

Just enough really is enough. That alone, would make me happy. For us all to better ourselves and come together. To be more informed, more aware, more proactive. More caring for all others as well as ourselves.

Especially if those around me, are happy too.

Beware, we're beginning to see the battle we're actually fighting.

I've posted this a elsewhere.
Why?

Because it's not just about this.I realized I needed to say something. There is more to this article than I at first realized, once I started considering it more deeply. Is what's going on because of NRA money to Congress so they do their bidding? As we're seeing? Or are we not fully understanding what is going on?

Most likely, the latter. Otherwise, things would have changed by now. We're obviously fighting a different battle than we thought we were.

We need to be very careful from here on.
We are being sold a bill of goods for something that is nothing if not standard operating procedure.
But also by design or coincidence, simply basic old Soviet practices.
Espionage gone mainstream.
Marketing on steroids, using what they've learned from professionals.
Wall Street working to drain us for their benefit using enhanced business and marketing practices.

Words at this time rise to the surface like bacteria on cream. Like subliminal. Like Social Engineering. Like PsyOps (psychological operations).

WAKE UP! Pay attention. Be aware. Educate yourself in areas most vital that you know and understand. So you can see it is actually happening.

This isn't a sci fi story. It's not an action adventure, a thriller movie, a horror film. Donald Trump as president thinks it is. More importantly he wants YOU to think it is. Or at least, to reacts as if it were.

"Are You Entertained?"!

This is for real. All of it. It's not huge evil monsters. It's not just an ultra right wing conspiracy. It's not just Putin abusing Western Democracies, in protecting his vast wealth and enabling his remaining outside of Russian gulags.

It's just people, doing a job, with a boss, with an agenda, with a goal, maybe even with what they believe to be higher purposes....but where any means justifies their ends. We are the target of a lot of people holding political, social and psychological "darts" aimed at our weakest emotional and intellectual and financial spots for their most benefits.

It's the usual misdirect by magicians and conmen.
Con People.
ConGressional Confidence People.
And their cohorts outside of Congress.
Their minions in and all about Congress.
We need to look at the actual problems, not the ethereal facades painted over to look like the problem.

Focus. Learn. Push back in ways that actually move the needle for us. It can happen. We can do this. Why haven't we yet been able to affect positive change in OUR direction?

Because we just didn't know the game we were all playing, or clearly understand just who the opponents were whom we hadn't recognized, or so very often, even seen. So much has been obfuscated, obstructed from view, redirected as our attention has repeatedly been sent off into directions having no bearings on our realities.

But we see you now....

Issues with Authority and Producing Smart Answers

I admit it, I have a problem with authority.

Look, I'm happy as hell to follow when things are working. To offer my best efforts and considerations for bettering what is already a good situation. But when you start to realize you're smarter than your leaders (talking jobs, not government, which can be worse and has so much to do with knowing how to play a dysfunctional game, making others smarter than politicians look dumber), it quickly gets hard to keep things under control. Not speaking out, not losing faith can become impossible.

You should and I do speak when I can. But so often you get cut off at the knees, because of the "bigger picture", or money, or just, "reasons". Typically valid much of the time, it is also typically not valid much of the time. Mostly just excuses for not bucking the system by the higher ups.

It's just how it is much of the time.

I learned two things early on in a sizable corporation. Don't talk to much in meetings. You open yourself up to look stupid. A prime motivator for Republicans in Congress. Except they can't take that advice. They speak up anyway and come up with the dumbest crap believable far too often. Well, not so believable actually.

Whenever asked a question, especially in a meeting in front of others, when you do not have the answer to respond with, just say, "I can't speak to that just now but I'll get back to you after the meeting." Then do that. Never let what you promise to not happen. And always come back with a well researched and viable answer. It will give you a reputation and one you definitely want.

I learned right off, in the beginning to just say yes. no matter what, whenever someone tries to give you work. Take on all you can... produce. Then turn it in before expected and do a job better than anyone else.

I took that to another level as a technical writer. I would turn in before the deadline, do an excellent job on the documentation I wrote and frequently would turn in three versions, giving them a choice. The first version was the one they asked for. Then another I thought they really wanted, and finally one that pushed the boundaries and perhaps was the one I thought they most needed (and frequently they never wanted, until they read it).

Frequently, they did not choose the one they asked for and on occasion, would even choose the one that would have been considered too far "out there" when I was initially given the assignment. Things change and you have to be ready for that, prepared ahead of time.

That led to my acquiring a reputation. And a good one. The other thing I did and this was not intentional, but just how I worked. I would turn in typically three drafts but write more. They never saw the first one. As a professor at my university told me...

"We do not show anyone a first draft. That is like showing someone your shit. We just do not do that!"

My first draft then was not my first I would show them, but was meant to be sure that I was in the ballpark for what they wanted. Because managers were not always clear and did not always know what they really wanted. Even when they thought they did. They would typically be concerned in reading that "first" draft that I didn't know what they wanted. Again, typically they thought they were being clear, when they clearly (to me) weren't.

I would then turn in the second draft, usually days later depending on the schedule. I remember one manager who read it, looked at me and said he was very worried I wasn't getting it at all. I told him not to worry, it's just my process.

When I then later turned in my third and final draft, I got an amazed look nearly every time.

They would be stunned I had nailed it so spot on, especially in considering the previous two drafts. Then I would hand them the other two (third) drafts, usually quite a bit different from the initial one I had just handed over. Frequently they would choose the first, sometimes the second but not all that often the third.

This all led to my gaining an interesting reputation for doing way more work than needed, in far less time than they had expected, for merely a single finished product. And this was in keeping up with any and all of my other work.

First and foremost you have to produce and you have to produce quality. But if you can produce quality and volume, if you can also keep quiet enough to at least appear smarter than you are, never letting them gauge just exactly how "brilliant" you may (or may not) be, you will be far ahead of the game. A game that is generally stacked well against us all.

Monetary Distrubtion

If we consider in theory that no single person, entity, religion, company or corporation should ever have as much money as even the smallest of nations, it puts into perspective the problems we are faced with today. It is easy to lose the consideration of the individual and of those who have no power or money in the face of such vast wealth and power.

Socialism isn't our biggest problem by far. Capitalism. is. And capitalism isn't our biggest problem so much as the actuality of entities cradling so much limited wealth within their power.

Entities that have cornered the entire planet's wealth in that of a few who repeatedly do not make the best decisions for everyone. The money of the planet may belong to those who can ingeniously acquire it, but the actual wealth of the planet belongs to all of its citizens.

Even if that's not reasonable or doable, it gives one an orientation of what we are dealing with today and how much control needs to be taken back from these corporations and the wealthy.

It is not a matter of the abuse of terminology in phrases like "wealth distribution" or even "socialism", but of the reasonable allowance of the cornering of monetary availability overall.

We have suffered far too long with those such as Republicans and capitalists who twist reality to their own benefit at the disaffection and outright destruction of all others for their own benefit.

In 2015 Monaco's GNP was 5.6 billion Euros.

Only the Vatican is smaller in size but much bigger overall in wealth.

The Vatican Bank, which has about $8 billion in assets, has often been at the center of scandal and corruption since it was founded in 1942. Pope Benedict began the process of cleaning the bank up, and Francis has continued that work.Sep 24, 2015. The Vatican itself has shown deficits off and on since at least 2011 but doesn't include the value of the entire Church itself.

On My Retirement - The Beginning - Part 2

Now that my retirement papers have been turned in, everyone notified, the news made public that I am retiring, I have to consider my out of workforce position, and my next steps.

I have to remember several things.

I have lived a very structured life with getting up at 5AM for a decade, ending work at 3PM. Originally then commuting from Seattle to my home in Squamish, a two hour journey that including walking through Seattle to the ferry, a 35 minute ride to Bainbridge Island, a bus ride that was anywhere from 20 minutes to over an hour for the 11 mile trip, depending on traffic, weather, and accidents or road work.

Or that stupid house on the north side of the road that every year put up an unbelievable amount of Christmas decorations that people couldn't help but to slow down and further impact commutre traffic home. Everyone pretty much on the commuter bus hated that when all we wanted to do was to get home and traffic was always too slow anyway without that light display that we had to deal with, year, after year, after year, winter after winter.

I have to remember that my job in IT work, working on front line servers to the public for a four state not for profit corporation on their software, applications, web servers, supporting web site developers, programmers and others, required a high level of functionality. The problem solving skills it required, the attention to detail, the starting and finishing things, the responsibility to the team, the company, the mission, the responsibility to proactively do what might never be noticed but should be done, the being aware of things related to things related to things, related to issues outside of those things, all this and more adds up to how I am now mentally and emotionally (and physically, being the downside in sitting all day long, in being sedentary in a job), all these things add up to how my minds is now pretty well honed to do anything.

When I graduated from Western Washington University in 1984, I knew I had pushed myself for four years to learn, to absorb all I could, to sharpen my mind, to get the most for the money my VA benefits, our country's citizens taxes, were paying for me to get. While my friends were out partying much of the time I was still in the university library, many times until they kicked me out. I wanted to learn...everything.

I knew I left college with my mind being as sharp and informed as it ever would be all the rest of  my life. Just like I knew when I left the military that my body would probably never be in that top of shape ever again. Both mind and body in the future of those times, I could try to keep in top shape, but might never see those levels of peak performance again.

But I knew I could try. I admit I've paid more attention to my mind being in shape than my body, but I've done well in that department too. Aikido was a wonderful way to exercise both mind and body. But because of my knees years ago, and my ankle, I had to give up practicing. Still however, I am on the dojo's Board of Directors still, for that non-profit school. I have also been donating to them, in matching funds from my job.

I now will definitely have the time to get in more exercise in a more broad sense than before. I have work out equipment at home, weights and an elliptical but I've wanted to do more. And now in having moved to a metropolitan location, I have much more and easier access to all this.

Why do I mention all of the above?

Because I have now moved from a structured, corporate environment to a private, small business environment. There is no CEO, or CIO filtering down our agenda to the working grunt on the front line. I no longer have my Director, or Manager, nor my Lead to manage me and my workload, my direction, my goals, and so on.

I now do that all for myself. Whenever you go into your own endeavors, into a small business environment, something that escapes many, something that a lot of people are not aware of is what I have been saying here.

My previous job that I just left took a turn. We were headed into Amazon AWS services from hardware and virtual servers that we maintained, into new technology where we used the "cloud". I was against it at first for security reasons until I attended the Amazon immersion day event and walked out of there very impressed. But it would mean we all at work in IT had to re-educate ourselves.

It meant that we would need to get certified, to study new information, then pass a test. To work extra hours, to work extra hard during the work day, to push the company into a new era, into new technologies, hopefully to refine our process, to save money, to make a better company.

I realized I was at a point where I could do that for them, or retire and do that for myself.

I decided I had given twenty-one years to this company and now I had the opportunity to do it for myself, to seek what I truly wanted to do, to "seek my bliss" if you will. To finally now that my family life was just myself now, my kids were raised and out into the world, I could break away and take the risk to do what I wanted to do.

And what was that?

Basically, to write. To be a writer. To be able to say, "I am a writer", when asked, and not, "Well I work in IT to pay the bills, but I'd like to be just a writer, to write full time." And here I am, finally. Now it's up to me.

So many make the mistake at a time like this to take their time, to not have the motivation others either inspired of them at a job, or demanded of them, depending on the work culture and environment. I have the skills, I have the motivation, I have the past spurring me on into what I want and not what I have to do. I have the mind for this, I have proven my skills,

I have produced products: short stories in horror, science fiction, books, ebooks, audiobooks, screenplays that although they haven't sold (yet), have placed in reputable screenplay contests. I have studied cinema since childhood and in college and on my own. My life has been a study in cinema, I have everything I need to do what I want in this area. I just need to do it.

Time will tell where this will lead.

However I have taken steps to set myself up for success. I have sold my house and I'm now renting. I am unencumbered by mortgage or debt. I have purchased equipment for producing films. I have not just time now to write full time, but to write when inspiration strikes me.

The gold standard of a writer who wishes to be a writer. That ability to jump up out of bed and write when inspiration hits, when your muse calls out to you, without worry for having to be up for a day job at 5AM, to be sharp all day long.

I now have to remember to use all these things, motivations, skills, a sharp mind, a habituated work ethic, the need to work extra hard, extra hours only now for myself, not for others, not for a large company. When I find a team to do this with me, to take this journey with me, I will expand all this to include them in the hope they will have their own inspiration, or will find mine infectious, a positive force to join with.

So many new small companies fail. Much of the reason for that is in not treating it like their previous jobs, where they had to answer to someone, to see much hard work applied to the mission. When they can finally choose their own mission, to succeed or fail on their own, they fail, because they do not realize how much harder it is without external influences monitoring them, riding them, wanting deadlines met, products produced, people supported.

I've revamped my old production company, LGN Productions. AKA, Last good Nerve Productions. A company started by a friend and myself, where we brought in a couple of others and produced a documentary in 1993-4. It aired twice in the Pacific Northwest. Then my life changed drastically and it all fell by the wayside. I moved out of Seattle.

I spent the next twenty some years being married, raising my kids, and working toward building a retirement that has finally come to fruition. Perhaps too soon, but I don't plan to simply sit on my laurels.

One might ask why, if I wanted to do this so bad for so long, why it took this long to get around to doing what I wanted to in life?

I tried. Trust me. I worked for a production company for some years and finally quit because I could never get anything I wrote on screen. I touched base with famous people when the opportunities arose but never did that pan out for me. It took years to get my first short story published. I tried from 1984 to 1990 when I sold my first story to a horror magazine. I'd been published in local computer rags before but they didn't pay.

Life kept taking over. I put things on hold. Finally when I realized my kids would be moving out soon, I started writing day and night. That was in 2010. We now have more outlets for people because of the internet and social media. Things started to turn for me. At some point I had gotten my mind into doing what I'd been practicing doing for so many years until finally it just seemed like the only thing holding me back was, my day job.

The job that was paying the bills. I realized I'd have to quit. Retirement was arriving and so I started working toward that. A situation where I'd have at least some income but could put all my time, energy and well, time, into doing what I wanted, what I thought I should do, what I was best at. I've established my name, my brand. I've gotten as far as I can, without quitting my job, my career. Finally, it was time.

And so, here we are.

I plan to act, to produce...stuff, to offer...something. Something worth paying attention to. Perhaps to change opinions, give laughter, share a nightmare that is fun to behold in a safe environment such as a story, a book, a film. Time will tell where this leads, and if I'm worthy.

Stay tuned....

On My Retirement - The End - Part 1

I wish you all a pleasant Veteran's Day.

UPDATE November 11, 2016 - 2:20PM PST - turned in my equipment at work. Had lunch at Kell's Irish Pub, pint of Guinness, shot of Jamesons 21 year old whiskey, clam chowder and enjoyed it very much.

Took the ferry home on my first and last commute ride from Bremerton to Seattle. Didn't realize I had the radio AND the dash fan on and killed the battery. Ferry worker gave me a quick jump and I zipped off the boat. Got home, trickle charging the battery to condition it happy and having a shot or two of Taliskers. Retirement, is here. Now the hard work begins and as I designate it. I'm a tough taskmaster, too.

UPDATE November 11, 2016 - 8:47AM PST - I am in Seattle. Took the Bremerton ferry over with my car, to drop off my things and retire from my company. Seeing old friends, experiencing nostalgia. So much here has changed since I was in town to work a year ago. Seattle it is said has more boom cranes putting up buildings than any other city in America, even San Francisco. It's noisy, there's a lot of people, many younger people probably in high tech companies. Amazon and Google are right next door. But then Amazon is everywhere it seems, even has entire floors of this building. I have turned in some of my stuff, my monitor, peripherals, my cell phone for being on call. I still have only my laptop and my ID badge which I'll turn in as I leave. Twenty-one years here and so much has changed. I had a family, a wife, two kids when I started here in 1995. I was a tech writer contractor for nine months before being hired on April Fool's Day. Once I leave here today, that is all behind me.


"A new life awaits where you can begin again." Blade Runner film reference. Love that film. I have new adventures. My son's gold mine which he just got the claim on. Video productions with my new equipment. And massive amounts of writing I can finally delve into. All I can say is thanks all and Cheers!


And now, back to reality....



I am crestfallen. But humor will help...some. Trump was voted to be president. America is in disarray. He has damaged us, with more to come. Capitalism will run rampant now. Republicans are in power. I won't say we are doomed, or that some good may come of it, if we don't all die instead. But dark times are ahead of us.

I wrote this blog and the next, part two, last week when I thought Hillary Clinton would win. I voted for Bernie, I voted for Hillary. There was no way Trump, a real sad person for a president, could win. He's Vice President Pence is not a good person either. Both guided by Gods. Trump by money, Pence by a Roman tradition in the Catholic church (maybe the Pope who is awesome most of the time, will have some sway with him).

Please world, wish us luck. Many of us are for America, for the World. Not for capitalism at all costs, not for conservative beliefs, but for progressive beliefs. We want to push the world into a better place, not go back to the defective and delusional 1950s.

Returning to our regularly scheduled programming now, today I start my retirement heading into uncertain and possible miserable times. I will write. I will not be censored. Stay tuned. I will always be honest with you, or you will know if I can not be and I will make it painfully obvious.

Putting aside now for a moment all the dark in our world,..

Cheers! I'm retiring!

I was in the Air Force in the late 1970s. I like to take today off for my years in service, for my friends I knew back then in the service and for the many friends I've lost who have been in the service. So I have today off.

Today is also the day I retire from the general workforce.

I am now sixty-one. How can I be that old? I have stayed mentally young because I have an open mind, I embrace positive change, and I seek truth. I had wanted to retire by fifty but I can't really say that I actually had tried to achieve that. It was more wish fulfillment. Family and life kept me from retiring that young. My own inattention perhaps kept me from it.

In 1995 I had been out of work for months. Fifteen hundred were let go from US West Technologies that January in 1994. But I was kept on, my contact extended for months. Then, I too was out of work. I got a few short contracts, I took on other contract agencies in a desperate attempt to find work, but then things dried up. There were a lot of people out of work that summer who did things just like what I did.

Bills were piled up. Thank God for unemployment as it paid our mortgage. My wife made a little money as a horse trainer but she was stressed out. I was stressed out. Then I got a call about a job but with an $8/hr cut in pay, I turned it down. I had to. Three times over the next couple of weeks they called back about it and I turned it down. Then I got a call from a woman recruiter.

She painted a very pretty picture of a new contract as a Sr. Technical Writer. Suddenly it started to sound real familiar. I stopped her and asked if this was the same job they kept calling me about. There was a hesitation and I knew it was. She then admitted it but talked me into just calling the guy who was the manager hiring and to talk to him.

From that point on as I see it now in hindsight, I was lost. I was hired before I hung up on the phone with her. I called the guy, I went in to see him. I kept hesitating and he finally just said to come in, meet people, look around and then say no if I wanted. So I went in. I accepted the job. I got him to try to raise the pay but they didn't have the money for that. At five and a half months out of work, I talked with my wife about it and ended up taking the job.

Nine months after I started the position, I was hired, on April 1st, 1996. Twenty-one years later, I am now retiring. I have in work there, gone from a subsidiary company, then after being absorbed by the parent company, we then became a part of a four state group.

Originally I had said I would take the job if and only if two things. One, I get my birthday off as I have never, against all odds, ever worked on my birthday. We get one day a year for us and only us and I take it. Although, as my mother was born on my birthday, I have never actually had it all to myself. Which explains much of that mindset.

But, you say, weren't you born on your mother's birthday as you're obviously younger than her?

She had always said that I was God's gift to her on her birthday. A pleasant, sweet motherly like thing to say. My being a smart ass teenager when she first told me this, my response was: I think you should reconsider that because considering I was the gift, perhaps God hated you. She laughed and said, Oh don't say that, you were my bundle of joy."

And at eight pounds, thirteen ounces (the same exact weight my son weighed at birth), it was quite a bundle indeed. When I was born my father called his mother and told her in his confusion that I was thirteen pounds eight ounces and almost gave my grandmother a heart attack.

The other thing I wanted a guarantee on if I took that job was that I would never, ever work for the parents company. This was a thirty person company and I didn't want to work for a big entity. I had recently worked for US West Technologies on a high level development team. It was an amazing opportunity to see corporate workings at such a level. And I never wanted that view point again.

So I took the job. It took me over two years to recouperate from my recently acquired debt in my loss per hour of a sizable sum. But I learned a lot and loved the people I worked with. Then in the last years of the dotcom boom, the manager left along with others. My phone rang so much with calls form headhunters trying to steal me away, I had to stop answering the phone as I couldn't get any work done.

I had wanted to go but my wife was fearful of the months out of work and was looking the current job as a bird in the hand. Others went off, made lots of money, bought hot cars, paid off houses with stock options and so on while I remained.

As each person left, I got their server. I started as a tech writer, but one who could become a webmaster. Then I became by default as other left, the network guy, the DBA, the security guy, the hardware guy, the software guy. I took servers out of the box, physically built them up, installed software, secured them, put them on the network and ran, updated, upgraded, secured them.

At one point I didn't have a manager for eighteen months. I was ordered to see the network assimilated by the corporate group. I was now just part of a team, not what was once a standalone company. Bill Gates stole our president. Paul Allen stole others. We did good work. But the new headquarters in Portland didn't like our little group. We had a bad reputation. Because we did good work. But that's for another time and is part of a previous blog a while back.

I saw that network into the bigger picture. I was derided, ignored, people didn't know me and didn't want me because I was part of a now defunct entity. And yet I continued. Eventually the main money making network in Washington state was part of the overall new network.

The entire company once was hit by a virus and in a teleconference across four states once about it, this being after it was all over, I was derided again. But I was able to point out that of all the parts of the network the only part that was not affected at all was the one I ran. During that time and after I was associated with a group started by our head of computer security. An amazing guy.

I’ve had a secret clearance for nuclear weapons in the Air Force, been involved through the aforementioned company and elsewhere in the past, with cyber security issues and as well being a member from the beginning of our private international Agora, a group started by our head of security for computer security experts and law enforcement, drawing from national and international police forces (Secret Service, NSA, Australian police, Canadian Mounties, etc.).

This was set up by our previous security head in Washington, Kirk Bailey Chief Information Security Officer of UW, whom I worked with in that group for tech setup along with a few others. UW is also one of my alma maters and I worked there for seven and a half years. Worked in the Personnel Office and with the Psychology Department on their Marital Research project and other things.

Over the years in the late 1990s and early 2000s, we were given briefings from people like now the famous Richard Clarke (former National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection and Counter-terrorism for the United States), the NSA, President’s Committee on the Infrastructure, and so on.

The Agora set up an ad hoc team that built Seattle Police Department’s first cybersecurity unit.

I was a system/network still running that network until we got a new manager. She further restructured things and moved me to another team. A new team of web/internet systems administrators. Finally I would have someone to talk to about my job, about issues and problems.

I am now retiring from that team. I was moved off of it along with many others from other teams in an attempt to build a team of experts on a middle tier team between the initial help you got in calling support, to the engineering teams such as I had been on and am now back on again. That middle level team lasted just over four years.

It is now twenty-one years later from starting at this company. Today is my last day.

The last day working with people I've known for decades. When I delivered the news at the end of our weekly team teleconference, you could hear a pin drop. Then we ended the meeting. I got several congratulations from teammates and one or two, "I'm envious". I will no longer have to deal with corporate issues. No more being, "on call" for problems where a computer could call me any hour day or night for problems.

No more on call. I had my first on call in 1976 in the Air Force for nuclear war. If I got called, we all went to the base, sent of nuclear bombers, and knew that cities were about to be nuked, people melted or disintegrated. Years later I would pull  on call support for medical centers when I worked on the mainframe for two major medical centers in Seattle for their Radiology and Pathology departments.

Then I got his job when I was on call for not cities dying, not people dying, but web sites dying in the middle of the night. People asked me why I was always so calm in this job when I first started it. I could only reply that masses of people wouldn't die, individuals wouldn't die, no one would die, so what's the panic?

Finally, no more on call.

I have for years wanted the luxury of writing at my leisure, or under my self imposed pressure. Of producing artistic things, not technological ones. Of seeking my bliss, not a paycheck. Because working for a company puts you on a fixed income. You do the same things over and over.

Now the sky is the limit. I can turn on a dime. I am the team. My potential now is the sky and beyond, not the corporate boardroom or someone's limited vision. Limited either from lack of vision or corporate restriction. I can delve into art and satiate my desire to follow my passions, my talents, the talents I seem to be best suited for, that have been restrained for so long.

Life now feels...wonderful. Like I can finally breathe, can finally follow my own path. I can post during the day where I want, what I want. I am not restrained by what my fellow workers or executives might see me say online. I can be fully open and honest, restricted by my own good taste and sensibilities.

Retirement. This isn't retirement for me. It is the beginning of actually doing what I've wanted to do, All my life. It is the initiation.

The future is the potential. My energy, my vision, my orientation, my skills, my ability to see, to act upon, to produce...whatever I want.

People complain about retirement. When should it be? Should we raise the age limit. Idiocy. We need to get our economy under control. We need to work toward people retiring younger and younger so they can then turn themselves to what is important to them, what is important to our nation, and humanity. We need to orient them that retirement isn't just vacations, doing nothing, puttering around the garden.

Retirement in that sense is empowerment, self-actualization to do what you can and want to, to seek your true potential outside of the confines of business or government. It should be a point to take risks,

A government should have as focus, empowering it's citizens, raising us as a culture above. It shouldn't just be to maintain, to just keep out heads above water so we don't drown. Days to work per week should be less, hours worked per day should be less. Age to retire should be lowered and lowered until one day you only have to work at all if you want.

However at that point we also need to educated our generations to have a certain orientation at retirement, or in life. To seek passion to produce quality. To seek to better yourself, our nation and the entire human species.

And so I reach for retirement with that all in mind.

I won't be just sitting around on vacation. I have revived my production company.
Stay tuned....

American Ideals: Tobacco companies, Congress, Robotics and a thing called Ethics

I love his show and John Oliver is doing a great job on "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver", poking fun at idiot South American leaders who are poking back, and at Tobacco companies, the scourge of our world.
#JeffWeCan

Now all that being said, a word about Tobacco companies, American corporations in general and the state of the world. You see, America isn't the only country being abused. A quick word about Russia who has been absconded with by an ex KGB thug in Putin.

Putin, in trying to support the Russian people's ideals as he sees them, is failing to be a true leader who could lead his proud nation into the future. He has twisted things about so that he seems like a good thing for many, but is only a good thing for the elite few and is bringing down the disdain of an entire planet on his people.

There are many being misled world wide. The Russian people. The American people, Many of the Muslim community being charmed into absolute absurdity by ISIL.

We can thank those responsible for many of the world's problems today in various entities mimicking the Tobacco industry debacle over past decades for so much of the nonsense that is now happening all though our lives, in our American Congress and among our citizenry.

Tobacco years ago was having an image issue. They were selling an addictive drug in a form that literally killed hundreds of thousands of people world wide. How does one get over that kind of brand suicide? You confuse the issue, distract, redirect and more importantly, misdirect. Twist reality to the point that Satan smiles upon you.

Also note that many of these tactics were old KGB tactics of disinformation, and there's your American patriotism for you. Years of watching the KGB by Britain's MI6 taught them a great deal about how to alter reality to their desires and agendas.

The American CIA learned from MI6, the Tobacco industry learned from them, as did others. Because what happens in prisons, in the military, in the clandestine services, eventually always trickles down into civilian organisations, companies and lives.

And that's what the people did who the tobacco industry hired to fix their image and therefore their profits and so for many years, fixed their bottom lines. When it failed in America, they moved to other countries, now killing many overseas at younger and younger ages.

No matter anymore that their products kill people. Right? Because all that is important, is what the profit making entity does to preserve themselves their profits, their power. As was with them, so it is with others, even those who hold the public interest as their charter, even though they could really care less.

There is actually more to all this, an even darker side, as recently pointed out in a Salon magazine article, "Republicans’ deadly political strategy: Ruining our country hurts the Democratic Party".

Nothing seems to matter for Republicans in viewing their actions of twisting elections, facts, Gerrymandering, etc., except Republicans. Their remaining is power is far more important to them than doing the right thing for America.

If it could be proved to them that Democrats (or any other party) were a better thing for America and that they were damaging our country, they would still fight to remain in power being the zombie party that they have become.

That alone is reason to kill off the GOP if you ask me. Grand Old Party, my backside. They have become a party to sit on and not look up to.

Years ago some moron decided that corporations are people. Laws were passed to protect the stock holders over that of the citizenry. Stock holders, are therefore more important than the people who are being sold products and services to.

Think about that for a moment.

Who would make such laws? On the surface it sounds wise, that a for profit company who is there to make profit, should make profits their business.

But at what cost? And to whom? If corporations are anything, they are robotic or cybernetic, not human. They are an extension of humanity not a part of it.

At what point does a company stop and say, "Wait, are we stepping over the line?" But now they just have to respond, "Naw, we just have to make profits and we are considered a person too even though we are a corporation and so our only goal is to make our stock holders more rich, within the structure of the laws we can circumvent." Great, lucky us.

I would like to make a suggestion....

Issac Asimov many years ago came up with the three basic rules for robotics in order to protect humankind. They have since been refined by others, but I would like to suggest we use that now for corporations. Just as a place to start.

If an American company sells a product in America, or MORE especially, if it exports it or sells that product (made in America or in the local country), then it also has a moral, ethical and legal requirement to follow certain rules and these rules can start with and then be honed to be more appropriate, from these following self evident laws:

1) A robot (that is, a corporation) may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

2) A robot (yes, yes, a corporation, you're getting it now) must obey the orders given it by human beings (now this is here actually referring to the ideal of humanity and not just its leaders), except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

3) A corporation (originally a robot) must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

And in that last one lay the problem most of the time lately. Corporations will do anything to maintain their bottom line and existence and in some cases, a corporation should be allowed to die. To say that the bottom line is existence and profit at any cost, is to beg for horrors to happen, sooner or later, here or there, in sight or behind closed doors or in foreign and poor countries.

It is something to consider, to act on, to make an America ideal.

It is a concept, an entity that could be respected around the world, and not too far in the distant future, in the off world(s), when and as that will become a thing.

We need to stop being fools (including myself) in not paying any of this any attention. We also need to consider that this may very well already be "a thing". A thing we need to address now before we are already in off world endeavors as it's approaching fast and once established, it may be too late to do anything about it.

We need to act on all this before it's too late. If it's not too late already.

I'm not the only one feeling like this, John Oliver has his own take on the infrastructure side of things as also mentioned in this Salon article..It's really all about the same things though.

Bob Marley brand pot to be sold legally in the US next year

Yes, according to USA Today Bob Marley brand pot is to be sold legally in the US next year. It hias been sanctioned by his heirs and will be the first global brand of pot. Good news. From the article:

"My dad would be so happy to see people understanding the healing power of the herb," Miami-based Cedella Marley said in a company statement. She's the eldest daughter of the music legend who died of cancer in 1981 and is Jamaica's most iconic figure.

But there's even better news here in America.

Good bye finally to the war on drugs and good riddance to you.

May you die the most painful death possible. Now, it needs to be made official by the government. Kill the ineffective D.A.R.E. program, a bastardized child of the War on Drugs. Although the link indicates how ineffective the program has been (including "Keeping it Real" program), a new version of the Keeping it Real program allegedly shows some progress. I do believe that children need to be presented with the facts, honestly, and not just propaganda.

Government needs to restrain it's easy urges to lie and twist what is true in order to achieve their agenda. There are other issues involved there than just drug use that goes into kids trusting the government later in life as adults.

We do need to keep children from drugs and alcohol until their mid twenties, as science has shown their brains are still developing until then. That however, is pretty much a lost cause. We need intelligent damage control, not enforced abstinence. We do need to try and curb their usage as long as possible, at least past high school if it could be done (it can't mostly), but we also need to be honest with children as each generation is better informed than the previous and we need to stay current with that.

The officially sanctioned war on drugs and Americans, especially has affected minorities and led to overcrowded jails and generations of broken minority families.

Finally the legacy of alcohol prohibition with its roots in religion going back to Puritanism, the Temperance Movement, evangelical Protestant churches, Harry Anslinger (who had to find jobs for his agents one prohibition was over and found pot the golden ticket), and Richard Nixon (who turned his back on his own commission calling for decriminalization of pot), is dying its much too long overdue death.

So, what is the fight going to be, what is the next abuse on Americans by our government to tend to, and what or who do we need to rid ourselves of now? First, I'm against war, war on anything or anyone. Especially disingenuous wars that damage people rather than correct bad situations. War is to kill people, not incarcerate them. So let's stop with the Wars. Let's stop with having Czars on anything. We still however, have issues we need to deal with. Mindsets than need to go away. Political groups who are counterproductive in America.

Ask yourselves, who are our biggest abusers of facts, reality, who abuses their elective governing, who abuses gerrymandering the most, pushes election abuses of almost non exist fraudulent voters (no, those are actually few and far between), who consistently oppresses women and women's rights, minorities, attempts to kill empathetic or compassionate government legislation, who has consistently twisted national economic legislation in knots that is mostly devastating to building our country back up, who are the supporters of big money and elevating corporate concerns over US citizens (which runs into election campaign financing which we need to assume as citizens and stop big money let Americans pay for elections from now on and not allow them to any longer be bought by big money), and this list goes on and on.

Could it be that conservatives and Republicans are who we are fighting against in an invisible war on America and Americans who aren't the top 3%? Could it be their disingenuous proselytizing and disinformation has made them invisible to the average citizen (yes you if you support them) for what they are doing so that most people cannot see their abuses, even though they are right out in front of us?

What does that say about the Americans who support them? Perhaps very little, but it certainly speaks a great deal to the power of the old Soviet mechanisms of disinformation and shifting responsibility onto anyone but themselves, and their supporters are either benefiting monetarily as the top 3% do, or they are too lazy or uneducated to find out or be able to find out, what is really happening and so they continue to support those who are really against their best interests.

Maybe like in the old film, Wild in the Streets, we just need to get Congress high so they can see to start doing what is right against blindingly following political theories that are no in the best interesting of the majority of American citizens, and actually, the entire world.

News Shows or News Programs?

"When men yield up the exclusive privilege of thinking, the last shadow of liberty quits the horizon." Thomas Paine 1774.

As citizens we need information. Real, and accurate information. We cannot acquire it ourselves. There are people who actually have jobs dedicated to digging, locating, finding that information for us and then enhancing that information, morphing it into knowledge and serving it up to us in a economic and palatable way so that as citizens we can make the most use of it. They are called, Journalists. This service they provide serves us as individuals, them as citizen agents, and the country and the world, as a whole.

However, if this trust is compromised, it fails us all. Journalists by necessarily need to be, for the most part, neutral. Anything that gives them an air of being other than neutral detracts from their work and the benefit we all receive from it.

We need our news agencies, we need all of them. But we need them to give us the news unhindered by polluting factors: big money, corporate and vested interests, and news shows/news networks that have been monetized. We need to separate out entertainment for market share, vested interest and, the actual news. If a news department loses money in serving the public, that needs to be okay, as it once was as part of a bigger concern. Concern for our country and the citizens which is to say, the customers.

These "news shows" as opposed to "news programs", if you will, are not just adjuncts to big money. They are our life blood as citizens of our country and our planet in needing to know what is truly happening in the world.

We need clean, accurate information. Otherwise what we have, what we end up with, is what we have been seeing in our country and in our world of late. Inaccurate information that is oriented to pay off toward these vested interests. To make money for the owners of these shows.

Corporations are not people. And stockholders are not all there is to consider in the world.

We need those who serve the news up to us to stop abusing the information and start serving the public, their lifeblood. When they start doing that, putting us first, then life for everyone will increase in quality.

It is true that those who are now seeding this abuse, will lose some amount of power. That is true. They will not have as much power as they could have, had they as they do now, squeeze every iota of every possibility of every dollar out of ever second of their effort.

Still, they just need to realize that this is really not bad for them, in it being good for us. It simply limits the heights to which their power can achieve. But with the rise of power for the citizen, it will enhance the country and that will enhance the economy of the world. And that, is good for everyone.

Is it ethical to find a job using company resources?

Is it Ethical to use other's resources to further your own agenda?

Ethical? Perhaps not.
Realistic and reasonable? Most likely, yes

This is a difficult subject to explain. But I'll give it a shot. Just understand that in what I am saying, I am not advocating theft or being truly, unethical. I'm also trying to say that in the end, your actions should benefit all involved. The less selfish you are in these situations, the better it is for all.

When you consider how abused we can be as individuals by the machinations of the corporations, government and society at large, we need to use whatever we have at our disposal to better our positions. If you won't do this for yourself, certainly your family deserves it.

In the end now, this actually is good for the company, as well as the individual and society at large, really. But you have to play that with appropriate consideration and in the end you have to live with yourself  And not get caught. In the end, we need to do and to use whatever is at our disposal to better our positions. But how far should we go?

Outright stealing is simply wrong and I believe it should always be avoided. But skirting whatever grey areas you can find, is perfectly reasonable.

Companies after all, do this to us all the time. They lay people off, they have no loyalty to individuals, they will drop you sometimes like a hot rock if need be and with little consideration for your situation, your family or your needs... or ethics.

Some companies are better than others surely and they deserve some extra degree of your loyalty as you see it, to be reasonable and rational. But you should be as loyal as a company will be to you and you always have to have that consideration in mind. And you should have loyalty to yourself in your need to advance, and your need to remain true to your own self and ethics. But does that mean you should never make use of any resources, not entirely and specifically your own?

There may be a fine line between stealing and utilizing available resources. Typically you might think this is all referring to supplies, stealing paper, pencils, what have you. But there are other considerations, one should consider. Should you use personal relationships you have developed through the company to better your position? Yes, why not? Some companies however would find that to be disloyal or even illegal. And in some cases they may be right and you should exercise due caution and reason. Should you use off time to find another job while at work. Sure, why not? Could you get fired if caught? Very possibly for some companies.

Would that be illegal? Possibly. I would suggest considering the caveat that you should also try to do this kind of thing as little as possible. Your work, the work that you are paid to do, certainly should not suffer. At that point, you would lose all justification and

Would that matter and could you win a court case over it? Maybe, maybe not, but consider what it would cost you in time, money, energy and emotions? It's always best to err on the side of caution. Because even if what you are doing is perfectly legal, it can be taken in completely the wrong way. And I guarantee in that situation, you would be the one to suffer in the end.

So do your best not to waste the company's money. Use your lunch time when possible. Do not steal office supplies, but if you need to make copies of your resume, if you can't afford to pay for them yourself, within reason, do it. It's a personal thing and you should know if you are being reasonable or not.

If you are not happy at your job, the best thing for the company is for you to move out as soon as possible and if it costs the company a little to get rid of you, don't you both benefit? And yes, this is a slippery slope.

But good people will keep it in check, while questionable types will rip people and companies off.

It will fall on the side of the company if you are doing ANY thing that doesn't benefit the company at all.

When you look the other way around and see the things that companies do to people, to their employees, it simply will not play out as counting the same. You will end up on the bottom. Almost every time.

Why is that? Because there is an imbalance before you even start that sides on the side of the company. We have laws to protect people from companies, but there are always grey areas that companies will use, and sometimes over utilize. But that's, okay. Right? Unethical, but legal?

If you steal from the company you are a criminal. If the company steals from you, many times it is perfectly legal and done under the guise of enhancing the need of the company in some way and they will use many legal rationalizations for this. Remember that the US Government has indicated corporations as individuals. A radical and unethical thing for them to have done that has done nothing but help to break down the protections of the US Citizen-worker.

Corporations have stolen people's retirement funds, laid workers off at the worst possible times, not infrequently at times like Christmas time, during the so called "suicide season", and even at times when they didn't need to; and so on.

You have to take this all into consideration in these ethical arguments, even though it may not directly really come into play in your situation. And remember  just because they are unethical, doesn't necessarily mean that you should be.

Or does it, in reality?

So, ethical? No, not usually. But realistically you have to ask yourself sometimes, how much does that really mean? Or, matter? In the end, just as with the corporations and company, YOU need to take care of yourself... and your family. Don't wait for a company or especially a corporation to do it for you. Because you'll be waiting a long time.

The argument that making use of resources will turn you into a criminal, is pretty much the same logic in saying gay marriage leads to pedophilia or bestiality It's just insane. Or, whether pot is a gateway drug. Mother's milk is too, nearly every pot smoker started on mother's milk. It's a non sequitur, right? More so is alcohol being a gateway drug, but no one ever notices that one. Still, I think you get the idea from what I'm saying in that, and if you can pick it apart you are totally miss what I'm saying.

In the end it's a personal decision. Be careful but be aware of what is around you to help you.

It's reminiscent of how I've raised my kids. No, not to be criminals, or unethical. But to be ethical. And to know that sometimes ethics and laws dictate one do unethical or unlawful things to maintain the status quo. The world simply isn't fair, I've told them. Sometimes, you have to do what you know to be right and suffer the consequences. Sometimes, you will do what is right and go to jail, maybe even for saving someone's life. Because to do what is right, might even be generally considered unethical, or in some cases illegal.

So should you not do what is in the end, the right thing to do for you, and your family, and the company? Remember that just because it seems at first to be wrong, or your company might superficially view it is a firing offense, or worse, doesn't mean you shouldn't do it.

Sometimes, you have to gauge your behavior and do what is right for all involved, regardless of how they would at first judge it. Sometimes, it's just the way it is. But keep your eyes open. Consider the options.

Make the world work for you. But remember that in the end you will need to live with yourself.

I'm sure that in the end, you'll make the right decision.

Where is the Great Art?

Why is it (why do we allow it?) that so much Art is produced with the funds and involvement from those who seem to have the least capability to do it, and therefore have the greatest power to shape it?
Do we really want this?

So rather than some incredible Art being produced to affect us the most deeply (though in smaller numbers, I'll grant you), we  are generally left with diluted Art that affects the greatest possible numbers... but the most shallowly, because it is the most "cost effective" to generate the most amount of money for those corporations who fund it. What starts out perhaps with the greatest of intentions, inevitably ends with the poorest of products.

How can we stop this?

The sculptor Magdalena Abakanowicz has said that, "Art does not solve problems, but makes us aware of their existence."

"If they're worried about their test scores and want a way to get them higher, they need to give kids more arts, not less," says Tom Horne, Arizona's state superintendent of public instruction. "There's lots of evidence that kids immersed in the arts do better on their academic tests." - From the article, "Why Art Education is crucial and Who's doing it best"

One current possibility is crowdfunding. But it is not the best solution, either.

I guess we're just back to the starving artist model. Those who are willing to produce what the Artist believes to be Art. But in this world today of little discipline, desire for immediate gratification, luxury in life as a default, how well is that going to happen?

Consider that the first thing Republicans in the last election were going to cut was money for the Arts. I'd argue we need the Arts as a society far more than we need sports in education, or even some other subjects. Yet, schools say that sports bring money in to support their other programs, like the Arts. Isn't that really inherently dysfunctional and undesirable? I'm not saying just get rid of sports, but between our primal, base functions and our higher even spiritual ones, which should we all to take us over? And if you can't see that, I think that just might prove my point.

Think about it.

Just how much "Great Art" DO you see in YOUR daily life?