Thursday, January 17, 2013

Global Warming....and I Don't Care

I guess it's not so much that I don't care about global warming, but I'm not concerned.
Isn't it logical to say that necessity is the mother of invention? When someone makes an invention which won't sell we say that there's no market for it. No one wants it, or more accurately, no one needs it. If there is no necessity, the effort for creation is just not justified. The exact opposite of this phenomenon is the united movement of a race driven by necessity.

Sadly, this united effort to resolve a problem usually only happens once that problem has reach its maximum strength. Once an issue becomes an emergency, the whole community springs into action. We have seen this happen over and over again throughout history. Man is driven by crisis, and crisis itself is what unites an otherwise fractured community.

There has been much debate back and forth about whether or not global warming is an actual problem. Although there is much evidence both for and against this environmental change, only time will tell us who is right. Both sides are equally passionate about their respective opinions, and as with every other major debate, the supporters and those who are opposed continue to butt heads about who is right and who is wrong.

For me, global warming comes down to simple addition. In order for our planet to thrive, the same amount that we take away, we must also return. This is not the case. Although I am far from knowing all of the facts and statistics, I know that as a race, humans are wasteful and arrogant. We assume domination over our environment, and if our daily commute can be greatly decreased by paving a forested area, we will do so without considering whether it is our right to do so. We consume resources and create waste which does not decompose. It is not surprising that we would someday look around and realize that we are literally consuming our planet.

Now, I am by no means a tree hugger. I too live the same wasteful lifestyle which my neighbors and co-workers embrace. Changing the way that we live has to be a  united effort. We have the technology to cut down on our consumption of natural resources. We have the technology to improve our manufacturing and recycling methods. The only thing which we do not yet have is a sense of urgency. As it is, there is very little market for biodegradable products and electric cars. Because of the limited market, these products are often more expensive than their harmful counterparts. Most people, if given the choice between a cheap gas guzzling car and an expensive electric vehicle, will choose the gas-guzzling car simply because it is more convenient. The only way green technology and biodegradable products will become cheap enough to make them a viable option is if the revenue received from these products goes up. Think about it, if you are only selling one TV every month, you are going to have to sell that TV for a lot of money, but if more people start buying your TVs, you will be able to lower your prices without causing personal loss.
It is the same concept. The amount of people who care enough to go out of their way to buy a more environmentally-friendly product is fairly small right now. The market is limited, which makes the product itself more expensive. The only point when environmentally-friendly products will become more affordable for the general public is when the general public starts to care more about environmentally-friendly products. And let's face it, the only point when that will happen is when things get scary. Once things hit emergency status environmentally-friendly products will become a requirement. Laws will pass, large companies which are making wasteful products will be forced to change their policies.

The only way to make a difference for our environment is for us to step up as one force, united towards one goal. And the only way we will all become unified is for everything to hit the fan and scare us into action.

So there it is. I am too small and too insignificant to fix the environment all by myself. Sure, I try to do my part. Given the choice, I'm going to choose the better of two products. But overall, I'm not worried. Because everything will fall apart eventually, and once it does, everybody will wake up. We will become a sea of united Nations, and when we all stand up together I pity the source of our fury. Born in fear, our unity will make us an army.
I only hope that we wake up in time.

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Gloating


I apologize blog-sphere, but I am going to fill this blog post with shameless bragging.

Recently I joined an online community of poets in order to find a social group where being a poet doesn't equal being lame. Since most people, including immediate family, do not know or have never read any of my poetry, I felt that my poetry has been sadly neglected for many years. I decided to pursue finding a more public outlet for my pieces, and very soon after making this decisions I created a profile on allpoetry.com. Along with being able to publish my poetry, allpoetry.com also offers many contests every month. Since I had recently joined the community, I got an invitation to join December's new member poetry contest, and I decided to enter.
I had originally intended to simply enter one of the poems that I have already written, but after reading the rules for the contest I found that none of the poems I already have would qualify. I began writing a new poem, one which would fit the guidelines for the contest, and several days later, I published this poem in the new member's poetry contest.

Immediately, I began getting messages praising the poem I had written, and although I found this to be very flattering, I didn't think much of the contest after that. Much to my surprise, the next time I logged in, there was a message in my inbox telling me that I had placed third in the contest! There were over 100 poems entered into the contest, and I had won the bronze medal! Along with the prize, I found out that an anonymous site member had purchased for me a six-month gold membership to the site, a subscription which was worth over $80! The only thing he or she asked in return for the membership was the request that I enter at least one contest every month. I was ecstatic! This contest has been the only poetry competition I have ever entered, and I was very well received!



Overall, allpoetry.com has provided me with a new outlet for my poetry, and a new source of inspiration. I am extremely happy that I decided to join this poetry community, and I'm sure that it will continue to feed my creativity for months to come.

If you would like to check out my winning piece, follow this link: (December Bride)

Friday, January 4, 2013

515.6 Gb


I was recently inspired by a friend of mine who lost a lot of precious computer data to take a good hard look at how I am currently backing up the stuff on my computer.

And what I found was that I really don't have a very good system right now. As it stands, I have a 2 terabyte hard drive on which all of my photos, documents, videos and everything else is stored. If anything happens to that hard drive....it's just all gone. Because of this realization, I opted to invest in a good cloud backup option.

Now there are scores of services which allow for a subscriber to back up their personal data online, but the service I was looking for needed to have a few essential things. For one, it needed to be a long-term option. I will always have computer data to store, and as a photographer, I have enormous amounts of computer data. All computers will eventually die, and if the computer's death comes without warning, it could drag all of your personal data down with it. This is a risk I can't take. I want a service which is provided by a strong, stable company. I wanted a company with a good track record and a consistent standard for good services.

Another factor which is a necessity for me is consistency. I don't want a service which increases the price as the amount of data grows. I wanted to find a service which offers a standard, consistent rate.

The third factor which is very important to me is compatibility with external storage. If the cloud service will only back up my computer, but will not back up external drives which are plugged and un-plugged as needed, then the cloud is useless to me.

After days of comparisons and price checks I went with Crashplan. (here's a link to their website if you want to check them out) The reason I went with them is because I could buy a 4 year subscription for a flat rate which doesn't increase as the amount of data added increases. The plan I bought literally has no data ceiling at all. This means that for the same price I could back up any amount of data. 4 gigabytes, or 88 terabytes, it's all the same. Also, it does not put a limit on the file sizes either. Some services will not allow you to back up files which are over a certain size, Crashplan makes no limitations. Crashplan data, when uploaded to the cloud, is stored in three locations. On my hard drives, in the Crashplan cloud, and at Crashplan's off-site locations. Except for an all-out apocalypse where all computer data is destroyed, it is impossible to loose data stored in this way.


Unfortunately, the sum total of the data on my computer's hard drive plus the data on my external hard drive is upwards of 500 gigabytes. This means that the initial upload will take a LONG TIME. Now, I can, for some extra money, have Crashplan send me an external hard drive which I would then use to back up all my data. I would then send the hard drive back to them, and they would put my data directly into the system, thus eliminating the need for a long draw-out upload process. However, it would take about two weeks for the hard drive to reach me and then get back to them. At that point, there is an added 3-7 days for "data processing". The whole process would take between 2-3 weeks. And this is about the amount of time needed to just simply upload it. So far, the plan is to just upload the data directly, but we'll see how that goes.

Overall I'm pretty happy with my choice and I will be thrilled for 4 worry-free years of data security. If all goes well I can renew the subscription at the end of the 4 years and continue onward. The price was extremely affordable, and the company is very stable and friendly.
Anyway, I guess I'll just be thrilled when the whole uploading process is over...I'll keep you posted.

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Tech Madness

Want to know how to drive an obsessive-compulsive perfectionist technology nerd crazy?
 Release a new version of software, and then create a dumbed-down tutorial which doesn't explain all the new features.

Sometimes iTunes can be so infuriating! Today I spent several hours trying to figure out how to drag and drop a playlist from my iTunes library into my iPod. Yea, I know this makes me sound like an idiot, but Apple's newest version of iTunes, 11.0.1.12, is significantly different from their older versions. iTunes is extremely simple if you just choose to let iTunes auto-fill your device, but if you like to do things manually, things get a little more complicated. I like to do things manually because I would prefer if all the music from my iPod wasn't deleted by accident. Auto-fill runs this risk. I would rather watch and control the process so that I know everything is going where it is supposed to go.


Technical know-how is something which comes easily for me. In many ways, technology is a lot like science. All the pieces are complex, and everything fits together to form a complete, well-functioning whole. It is interesting, engaging, limitless, and I love everything about it. This is why this problem with iTunes bothered me so much. I think the reason I was so obsessed with it for the most part was because iTunes is so simple. 

If you encounter a problem involving theoretical physics which you don't understand, you will likely just walk away. But if you encounter a problem involving simple elementary concepts which is baffling you, it is going to drive you crazy! This is the same thing I was experiencing. 

I have the utmost respect and confidence in the technical developers at Apple. After all, they have consistently created hardware and software which is useful, cutting-edge, and functional. Because of this, when I found a popular feature missing from the newest version of iTunes, I assumed that it was still present, and I just needed to find it. 

Finally, after hours of tinkering and surfing through forums I stumbled onto the answer. That moment when you have conquered a problem which has been plaguing you is one of the most rewarding moments known to man. I smiled, and everything was better. Poof! The problem was gone! (Just as a side note, here is a link to the forum post where I described the problem and then later posted the solution: link)

I then went back to posts of other people who had the same problem and told them the solution. I could imagine others finding the solution which I labored over for hours and feeling that same joy. What a wonderful way to spread joy! 

I suppose maybe my obsessive need to find solutions could be considered unhealthy to some. After all, I shunned everything else I had planned to do today in order to find an answer to my problem. But the way I see it, doesn't every advancement in society, every improvement in human culture require someone with an unhealthy obsession to find the answer? Ingenuity comes out of necessity, and every great success has beneath it a mountain of backbreaking work, and a circle of people who were just obsessively determined enough to keep working where no one else would. 
I propose that obsession is not a problem that should be cured, but instead, it is a tool which must be controlled and shaped. 




Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Happy New Year!!!!


A year ago today, I wrote a blog post at approximately the same time of day as this post for the purpose of welcoming 2012 and reCAPPING 2011 (yes, I know that pun was awesome). One of the main points I talked about in that post was how I usually learn things the hard way, and my resolution was simply to see an improvement between 2011 and 2012.

Now the percentage of people who are in their 20s in America who actually follow through and report that their new year's resolution was a success is a decent 39%. (Statisticbrain: New Year's Resolution Statistics) This percentage was actually higher than I thought that it would be, but the percentage drops steeply as those surveyed approach their 50s. According to statisticbrain.com, the percentage of people in America over 50 who keep their resolutions is less than 14%. (Statistics were calculated from 2011 data)

I'm happy to be among those who can report a successful new year's resolution. Actually, 2012 has been one of the best years of my life. (Although it is closely tied with the year when I was nine years old. That was an AWESOME year!)
2012 was a year of growth, achievement, and memories. I cannot quite put into words how grateful I am for the successes and triumphs I experienced in this past year. 2011 was a disheartening year. A year of failure, betrayal, and personal shortcomings. It is very hard to watch the people you love give up on you, and it's hard to see the disappointment you've caused others. But even more than these things, it's hard to explain how it feels to disappoint and give up on yourself. I was walking a fine line. A line where I had the choice between giving up, and improving. Fortunately, along with terrible eyesight and bad teeth, I also inherited from my family tree an unconquerable stubborn will. I was only a child when my family first noticed my bull-headed stubbornness. Maybe it was the way I doggedly learned to walk on stilts, or maybe it was the complex system of pulleys and tree limbs I used to launch trash bags into a dumpster, but at some point during my childhood it became painfully clear that I was a wild child with a temper and an aversion to the phrases "no" and "you can't". If my parents weren't equally as determined as I was, I'm sure I would have turned out differently.
There are so many factors which come into play when raising a child, and there are so many things which can go wrong. Children are environmental sponges, and each child is like opening Pandora's box. Human personalities are all different, and you can never tell what kind of a personality a child will have. Genetically, the odds could be tipped against you from the beginning.
But I'm getting off-topic. My point is not to promote my personal sentiments about having children or pro-life versus pro-choice. On the contrary, my point is to say that I have a very unique combination of personality factors. These factors make me very successful now, but all of these specific traits in one person presents a very contrasting inner atmosphere, and this can be very chaotic for an adolescent. I struggled with how strange I was in my own eyes. I knew that I had different opinions and viewpoints from the majority of my family and peers. I felt like an outsider in my own life.

Either way, whatever the reasons, and whatever the results, there were several years with varying levels of turbulence as I battled adolescence. 2011 was one such year.

This is why I went back and read the post I wrote one year ago today. I wanted to see the change. My expectations where mild. I simply wanted 2012 to be a better year. And a better year, it has been. I rocked another school year, learned to admire who I am, acquired a substantial movie collection, made new friends, reunited with family, and on 12/31/12 I danced Gangnam style with several million other PSYched Earthlings. (Side note: Psy's performance of Gangnam style [which you can view here] was epic on a global proportion.)

Overall, 2012 resolution achieved. And 2013's resolution? Non-existent, I've decided to give myself a year off from resolutions. I am honestly just so freakin satisfied with 2012, I can't think of anything upsetting enough to make a resolution about.