Dread in Computer Shops

Today (Monday) I was whipped by an issue.  I could not get several newly installed fonts to continue to appear in software dropdown font selections after a reboot.  This was the case even though after reboot they continued to appear elsewhere in the system’s list of installed fonts. It was a recurring problem—we had worked on the same issue periodically for several days.  The ultimate software fix is to re-image the computer.  In this procedure, the entire C: drive (including operating system) is erased and replaced by a previously built and saved image for that computer model. All software specific to the re-imaged computer (like specific printer drivers or special application software) has to be reinstalled.  For this reason, it is not the first solution that comes to mind; most often it is the last.   Software wipes and new installation comprise the ultimate solution for many device issues including weird problems with Blackberry phones and their synchronization with email software.  All these ultimate solutions share one deep emotion—dread.  Dread that the ultimate solution, despite its many pains, will be required.

Print Page

Today in Sunday School

Today’s first lesson was from Matthew 16:13,15 (NRSV):  [Jesus] asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?...But who do you say that I am?”  “Who are you?  Why are you here?  These two questions are fundamental to our understanding of another human being.  The lesson concluded “…we will find God leading us to serve others in ways that will show us who we and Christ are” (Upper Room, 11/22/10).  The second lesson was from Psalm 115:13 (TEV): “[The Lord] will bless everyone who honors him, the great and the small alike.”  The lesson concluded “In Christian experience, every person—regardless of importance, ability, or achievement—can be filled with God’s spirit and share all the beauty and flavor of Christ.  As we come to know Christ’s love more and more deeply, we can be ‘filled with all the fullness of God’ and by doing so, show God to others” (UR, 11/23/10).

Print Page

Cut Off and Alone

There used to be a saying, “If you were marooned alone on a deserted island in the middle of the ocean, and could have only one book, what book would you want to have with you to read?”  Today (Saturday) I have an answer for that.  I wouldn’t want any book; I would want a solar powered computer and access to the internet.  Today I awoke to find that our phone line to the house was dead, and along with it any access to the internet through SDL.  I felt stranded.  I could not access email (except through my cell phone—which is a major struggle of miniature keys and screen).  I could not watch a movie or documentary on Netflix.  I could not access Wikipedia.  I could not get the BOGO ads for Publix.  I could not do my blog.  I could not play my internet radio.  When I discovered that the line would not be fixed until Monday at the earliest, I became like a baby deprived of his pacifier.  How spoiled I’ve become in the relative few years that the internet has developed.  What in the world will I do this weekend stranded without the internet?  Perhaps I could read a book.

Print Page

Christmas Rocks

Christmas rocks because once a year (that’s about all we can afford) people throw caution to the winds and generously gift others; and however large, gifts are only a token of our appreciation and a dash of our love.  In this sense, Christmas is the most symbolic season of the year.  We revel in bestowing symbols of affection on others.  Because of this active symbol creation, we enjoy a deeply human endeavor.  It is great fun and makes all masters of symbolism.  Christmas is driven by an unrivaled confluence of emotional, intellectual, and spiritual rewards.  It is a high that comes with a price tag—but most feel is well worth it. 

Print Page

Holiday Fare

From Fall Sailing (1972):

Print Page

Still Undaunted

I have seen programs on the universe.  The numbers are a little mind numbing.  For one, the sun—merely a dwarf star—is about 865,000 miles across.  About 1,000,000 earths would fit inside the sun.  It is calculable that the sun will run out of fuel in about 5 billion years.  I simply don’t know how to react to these facts other than to say that I don’t feel in any way diminished by them.  I feel no less significant because of these figures.  To me this is similar to noting that there are approximately 7 billion people on earth today.  Why isn’t this figure daunting and a source of feelings of insignificance?  Yet, I go about my life as happy as a frisky brown dog with his tail wagging over his back.  There are several levels of awareness.  The most critical level is the sense of self and direct relationships, perceptions, and physical motivations.  Next come abstract perceptions dealing with awareness of human society such as city, state, and country.  Addition abstractions deal with concepts such as ideologies, religions, and political theory. Direct experience and abstractions both can command loyalty to the point of death.  But few people would die over a dispute about the size of the sun unless it was couched in terms of defending the abstraction of truth.  The health of the sun is not irrelevant to me; it’s just that the behavior of the sun is completely outside my influence or control.  Shall I vote to extend the life of the sun another 5 billion years?  That would be a silly exercise.  Humans will seek to know and understand the universe for it is in their nature to do so.  Usually knowing and understanding is precedent to some sort of control.  In the case of astronomy, for the time being at least, significant control is a distant dream on the order of faith.  For the time being at least, we must settle for the delight of understanding. Yet that delight is a powerful motivator as we experience the thrill of discovery.  There can even be something liberating about studying the nature of that which is beyond our control, about that to which we have to humbly adapt. 

Print Page

Reality Lab

Today I worked all day at the TASCO Youth Graphics Technologies Lab.  While this is a government program under the auspices of the Leisure and Community Services of the City of Saint Petersburg, it is evident that it is not run like a government program—if by government program one means an assembly line process using second class equipment and software.  We recently upgraded computer memories to handle Adobe Photoshop CS5. The TASCO staff installed wall mounted widescreen monitors.  Adobe Creative Suite CS5 and Photoshop Elements for photo editing and Photoshop Elements Premiere for video editing are installed on laptops.  There is also software for audio editing. (Total number of computers: 7 desktops; 6 laptops.)  Cameras and video equipment are top of the line.  The student creations born from the program testify to the program’s genuine merit.  Judges in graphics competitions bestow top honors on the program’s entries.  Of course, quality neither begins nor ends in technology.  Rather it derives from the commitment of the staff and students to the pursuit of excellence.  Ethical values such as honesty, respect, and discipline are the origins and ends of the program.  Electronic gimmickry alone could not provide the gravitas that sturdily underlies the structure and assiduousness of the program.  This program clearly is more than a thin effort “to do something” for youth and to give officials an easy justification that “something” is being done.  The intention, the effort, and the product are securely grounded in reality.

Print Page