futurist

When I close my eyes and picture the future, this is what I see.

JPL/ Nasa Mars Lander

NASA with the assistance of JPL has landed another lander on Mars. The main mission is to look for frozen water over the next three months.

here's the main page: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/index.cfm

Townhome for sale in Columbia, Maryland!

John and Melanie are growing out of their house! Check out this great townhome in an established neighborhood in Columbia, Maryland. Townhome for Sale in Columbia, Maryland. MLS#: HW6770203 Or stop by and check it out for yourself at 9529 Quarry Bridge Court, Columbia, MD 21046.

Maintenance Mastery

I'm creating a new site called Maintenance Mastery, http://maintenancemastery.wordpress.com Where I'll be sharing tips, tricks, and tools for maintenance technicians.

I'm hoping that I've done it right this time, and I've put down a bunch of stuff down in a moleskine so that I have material in advance. I'll get a few posts up, and then I'll start promoting the heck out of it.

I've started out in wordpress- and if it takes off, I'll dot-com it.

technorati

I have joined the ranks of the technorati. Now I can check to see just how irrelevant my rants are, and how many people aren't reading me!!

release the spiders...
Technorati Profile

Seeing the future

I want to be an engineerpoetphilosopherfuturist. I know how to do the first three things, but what does it take to become a futurist? Can you be optimistic about the advance of tech, but pessimistic about what we'll do with it?

futurist dot com has a list of core beliefs that I find fascinating. I agree with most of it, so does that make me a futurist? Maybe I have to join first.

I saw Iron man this past weekend, and it got me thinking (again). Why we don't have hovercars and jet packs yet? We have all this amazing communications crapola- but what I consider the REAL future- the cool applicable stuff hasn't really arrived yet.

We still get in our "cars" powered by 100 year old technology, and drive them on our "roads" paved with a sumbstance we started using over 10k years ago to our post WW2 era inspired "jobs" where we all pretty much do normal run-of-the-mill outmoded outdated kinds of stuff.

I realize that progress is measured in micro-improvements most of the time, but sometimes I'd really like to just jump on my skybike and go take a ride an orbit tether to a space station and go for a two week vacation on the moon like they promised me I would be doing by the year 2000 when I was in elementary school.

If thinking that modern engineering and tech isn't moving fast enough makes me a futurist, then count me in.

Technology

I still wonder sometimes if technology is really making our lives better, or if it is just more clutter to keep us from doing REAL things? I mean as long as we are answering emails, checking messages, reading web articles, etc. we're FEELING productive...
I just want to know when the tech is going to catch up. I mean when is it going to become an enhancement of the quality of life, and not a supplement?
For instance I have discovered that I really like listening to podcasts in the car on the way to work- because I get to tune in during a time when I am normally tuned out. This is one rare instance of the tech being an enhancement.
However, this morning i am going to open outlook, see a bunch of emails to which I need to respond, and I'll look up and discover that my morning is shot. Even after reading GTD and reorganizing my office- I just get the feeling that there's got to be a better way.
Anyone? Any one? Bueller?

I'm sorry, but its hot sauce

Can we all stop saying (or stop trying to say) chipotle? I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, but we have been eating chipotle chilis for years. We as Americans are being duped into believing that we are consuming an ancient Aztec recipe.

Its nothing new. Its chile peppers. I have some in my kitchen. If you want to get technical, a chipotle is a smoked chile pepper. I have some of these in my kitchen as well- and I have news for you. They are not chipotle. They are friggin smoked chile peppers. We already have a mediocre restaurant named after chile peppers, its called friggin "Chilis."

Do not be duped. Do not be drawn in by the hard to pronounce name, whether you say "chee-PO- tull, or chuh-pot-LAY, or chee-PO-tuh-lay, or even chu-PO-tull, cha-pole-TEE, all of these are inaccurate. They are smoked chile peppers. If it is "chipotle sauce" it is smoked chili pepper sauce. This is just another advertising gimmick to get you to buy crummy food made to taste better with HOT SAUCE.

try it- google "dried chile" http://images.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&rls=com.ubuntu%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&q=dried+chile&btnG=Search+Images

and then google "chipotle"
http://images.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&rls=com.ubuntu%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&q=chipotle&btnG=Search+Images

after you scroll down past the corporate logos of the evil restaurateur, you will see the same thing from the first search. That's right...wait for it...DRIED CHILES.

So here's what I propose. We form the ANTI-CHIPOTLE league,that commits to one of the following.

1. Boycott any restaurant that uses the name, sells any sauce called "chipotle" or makes any representation whatsoever that "chipotle" is sold anywhere in the establishment.
2. Go to the restaurants, but do not purchase any of the products that supposedly use any form of chipotle or any form of chipotle sauce.
3. Go on buying your crummy "mild mayo infused semi-hot sauce" but refuse to call it "chipotle" you may call it hot sauce, or smoked pepper sauce- but REFUSE TO SAY "CHIPOTLE."

Join me people. Join the anti-chipotle league.

My network at home

I should probably explain a few things about the systems that we run at our house before I start keeping score between ubuntu and windows.

We have:

Verizon Fios
1 Dell Dimension E510 running Vista Ultimate SP1- recently set up to be print/ backup/ media server.
2. A HP Pavilion 514n running xp sp2, that I think I'm going to erase and laod Ubuntu when gutsy gibbon releases.
3. A Dell laptop running Vista Home upstairs that my wife uses-
4. My favorite~ An old beater Dell laptop running Xubuntu which I use for email, browsing, etc
5. My work Dell laptop that I need to be able to print from, etc. when I bring it home~ I should also mention that I don't have admin rights on this one.

So, anyway- just keep all that in mind when you hear me keeping score between Ubuntu and Vista. One of the big factors for me is cost, and since I got all this eval software from Heroes Happen Here, I was able to briefly eliminate cost as a factor for my most recent problems.

Score one for Microsoft

Just to update, in my last blog I complained about windows home server, and I mentioned that I loaded xubuntu in an effort to create a file/backup/print server on my network at home.

Well, it turns out that Samba wasn't happy with my peer network either, and when we tried to print an xl spreadsheet from my wife's Vista machine through the linux hp drivers, it printed it ok- except it was printing a 3x5" copy when it was supposed to be printing on 8 1/2" by 11 paper.

I like playing with new tech, and I have spent my share of nights and weekends "effing" with something trying to make it work, when I could have just done something easier- so I took the copy of Vista SP1 i got at Heroes Happen Here, and loaded it on the machine.

I hate to admit it, but it was all pretty seamless. It found my wife's vista machine, it found the xbox, and right now it is happily sharing all my media files across the network. I can even browse the whole peer network thru Samba from my xubuntu laptop.

in addition, I signed up for a year of Windows Live Services for $50, and its good for 3 machines, which is perfect because that just happens to be the number of Windows machines I have in the house.

As i said before, I like to play with tech, and try very hard sometimes to make things work. Although its not "technically" a server at this point- its doing the three things I set out to have it do, and as a bonus i get virus and firewall protection at a very reasonable price.

I like to stay up on the latest and greatest, but sometimes my wife just needs to be able to print out a legible spreadsheet. Thanks, Microsoft- you really did make me a hero.

(I did have the forethought to partition the drive, Hardy heron IS in beta...)

Xubuntu Linux 2- Microsoft 0

Ok, so my relationship with Xubuntu started when I took an old beater laptop (that wouldn't run Win2k any more) and loaded xubuntu on it. Needless to say, that even though it was a little slow, it ran beautifully. Email, web, blogging and twittering (you know the important stuff)

So fast forward to this past weekend when I tried to load up my "free evaluation" of windows home server on my 2 yr old Dell E510. I loaded up the software, and the first problem was that it didn't have the drivers for my internal network card, so I had to burn the drivers on a disk on another computer and load them on the machine (no big deal- it happens)

So then I was dissapointed with the user interface that pops up when you run home server. You would think that since its for home use, all of the good stuff would be simplified. sharing, backup, etc. you know- the good stuff.

Not so, the biggest feature that it offered was a backup utility, which would have been cool- but here's the kicker. WHS has a little interface that you use to set up your network. You plug in a little info, sign in (or sign up) to a .net passport account, and its supposed to set up a domain server for you automatically.

The problem I had was that Verizon Fios blocks port 80- which I openly admit isn't Microsoft's fault. However, the part that sucked, rather than skip that step, and move on and set up everything else, WHS quits and tells you that it can't configure your router, and that you need to do everything manually, and it turns out that the manual setup console is basically the server console that started with NT.

So, I'm going through all the iterations of setting up the DNS, the IP address, and all the other crap thinking "What about all the poor saps that are going to buy WHS thiking its going to be a beefed up version of Vista?"

So anyway, I finally get the thing to connect to my network, and start setting up files, backups, etc. and find out that its conflicting with my peer network, and its messing up- get this, because this is the best part, its messing up the open ports on my XBOX. It sees the open connection that the XBOX has and sees it as a threat, even though the router is handling the firewall, and starts hosing the connection.

It was at this point, I turned the machine off, and installed Xubuntu. It found and loaded the drivers for the network card automatically without any help from me. I next loaded SMBK and proceeded to share the printers, the backup drive, and the video and music folders on my external hard drive.

The only two things I had to load were the drivers for my video card (it worked without them) and flash for the browser. It is "serving" two printers (which it found and loaded without my help by the way) music, and videos, and runs the backup for the 5 machines I have on the network.

So, I screwed with WHS all weekend, and couldnt get it to work, and got everything set with Xubuntu last night in about 2 hours.

Religion

I have a weakness for religious topics. I can't help it. I grew up in church, I spent 7 years in a private Christian School, and I spent the 90's volunteering for a national youth ministry while working for a church. I like to talk about church. How to do church; contemporary, orthodox, post-denominational, post-Christian.
I like to talk about theology, and find commonality with the bizarre, and find differences with the familiar. I have been around Muslims with whom I agree, and Baptists who make me want to go run and hide.
I have arrived at a brand of theology that leaves me with a feeling that I can fit in anywhere, while at the same time belonging nowhere. I believe in the idea of speaking in tongues, laying hands on the sick, and casting out demons, but I have a hard time finding anyone who has a legitimate need to do such things.
My problem lately since my foray back into church membership, is finding anyone with whom I can have these types of theological discussions. I had friends at my local pub who had no problem discussing these things- but somehow within the walls of the church, I find myself in the difficult position of having to restrain the things I say.
I wonder why that is?

Get a real human

Have you ever been frustrated with the automated phone systems at large companies? This person has posted a list of the numbers to call and extensions to call when you are trying to get a real human.

http://gethuman.com/

Let me know how it works out for ya.

Transparent and Available

I am conducting an experiment to see if I can become accessible without going crazy or getting abused. I have added Twitter to my list of websites where I can communicate with my adoring public. So here's the list.

http://www.johntindale.com/
from this site, you can email me, see what I'm up to- overall its pretty generic and I have all these grandiose schemes to one day actually make it functional.

www.myspace.com/johntindale
I'm pretty sure you know about this one

http://johntindale.spaces.live.com/
On this site its convenient for me to uplad photos because it works directly with my winmo phone. I'm having trouble getting the calendar to sync with any of my other calendars

www.facebook.com/johntindale
yet another social network

www.getamtek.com/jt
This is my profile on my company's website

www.twitter.com/johntindale
I added text messaging to the updates on twitter, and I'm going to see how often I can keep it updated

http://live.xbox.com/member/johntindale
This is my xbox gamer site. I'm not a huge gamer, but I haven't added any friends on there either yet.

My goal is to get my "web presence" as integrated as possible, so I'm going to see what gadgets and feeds that I can use as plug-ins on different sites, to make it as seamless as possible.

New Year's Declarations

Everyone hates making new year's resolutions, and it's a quick way to set yourself up for failure. So I have decided I am going to make a few non-specific, non-committal declarations about how I feel at this particular moment- so that way if I feel different tomorrow, you won't have anything to hold against me.

1. I need to sharpen my image. Although I'd much rather roll out in the morning in a pair of jeans, a flannel and a comfortable pair of boots, the truth is I am in management, and I need to start looking the way I act.

2. I need to get those last couple licenses straight. Dealing with the District of Columbia is a bit like listening to Vogon poetry, and getting something through the DC Bureaucracy is every bit as excruciating as Vogon infrastructure, I need to go ahead and bite the bullet and get that master HVAC in the district.

3. I need to "network" better. We live and die through word-of-mouth advertising, so I need to be able to get out there where the customers are. I have spent a lifetime building up a database of people I know, and it turns out that most of those people are either competitors or suppliers. Which is great if i am either
a. looking for a job or
b. buying something.
Since I am doing very liitle of either one right now, its high time I get out in the world and start being "nice" to people.

I guess that's enough stuff for now...

9-11

I know there will probably be alot of bulletins, emails, and other stuff about 9-11, but there's two things I wanted to communicate.

First, we could all use a good helping of "pissed off" about what happened six years ago. Osama Video Where among other things he says- "And before concluding, I tell you: there has been an increase in the thinkers who study events and happenings, and on the basis of their study, they have declared the approach of the collapse of the American Empire."

The other thing is, whatever your political views there are things you can do to help the soldiers who are in harms way and their families.America Supports you

No animated flags, no burning building pics, no Lee Greenwood- just watch Osama, or read the transcript- and then donate before you forget, and if you feel so moved- go ahead and forward.

Nah nah nah, nah nah nah, hey hey...

GOODBYE!
I remember doing that song at sporting events when someone would get ejected from the game. It looks like it might be a fitting song to be revived now that the Dog abuser Michael Vick has decided to switch his plea to "guilty."
I can't feel sorry for this guy in the least. He's got all that money, and the only thing he can think of to do on a daily basis is torture animals? I'm not a big animal rights activist- and I'm not going to harp on how cruel dog fighting is- I'm going to try to stick to the topic.


Vick signed a six- year $62 million dollar contract on May 9, 2001. That works out to over $10 million a year, and over $600 thousand a week. So what does a man do who has everything? Fight Dogs.
If I ever get to the point where I have done everything, and the only thing left is DOG FIGHTING just shoot me. I mean, the morning I wake up- and I realize that I have done everything BESIDES watching pit bulls repeatedly rape a female dog- I want you to come to my house and literally blow my head off.

• What's so wrong about naked midget chick wrestling? http://www.cafepress.com/prideinart/406415
• Or car chucking http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2006/02/car_tossing_robot.html.
• He didn't have any fascination with going to space?http://www.virgingalactic.com/flash.html
• Or buying real estate on the moon?http://www.moonshop.com/.
  You mean to tell me that he didn't want to buy a tattoo on this guy's back? http://www.stunning-stuff.com/read-weird-news-stories/134.html?ci=l
• So, he's already completed his fossilized mud collection?
  http://files.tellmewhereonearth.com/Photos%20Weirdest/w184a.JPG
• He never got the urge to go buy- er I mean "adopt" one of these kids?http://peanutbutterburrito.blogs.com/photos/uncategorized/darfur_kids.jpg

I know I can't judge the man until I've walked a mile in his Nike Michael Vick Shoes, http://www.pickyourshoes.com/images/shoes/listing/zoom_vick_wht_blk.jpg but I just think, that with a little creativity, and a little time Michael Vick could have thought of something better to do with the $577/ hour he's been making for the last five years (counting spring training and practice)

Mr. Vick, backatcha

Blacksmithing

I took a class with my dad this past weekend in blacksmithing, and it turned out to be quite the experience. Working with my hands again and learning something new was a very rewarding, sometimes challenging, but mostly fun experience.

It all started a few months back, when I was looking online at the curruculum at Howard Community College. I try to learn new things when I can, and I always enjoy the opportunity to increase the old knowledge base. There was a myriad of options for classes I could take-

1. business management type classes to help me climb the corporate ladder

2. engineering-related classes to help me one day legitimize my position, and trade level

3. requirement (filler) classes to inch me toward that ever-elusive degree.

It all seemed pretty 'ho-hum' the more I looked at it.

So I started doing the usual google searches for odd terms "trade schools" and "course study" and somehow stumbled upon the Carroll County Farm museum. They offer summer classes in old-school trades, and I saw the blacksmithing class and I knew I had to do it.

To add to the fun, Wayne recently moved up here from Florida, so I asked him (sort 0f at the last minute) if he wanted to take the class with me. So sure enough, he said yes, and we signed up. (For those of you who don't know me, I use "Wayne" and "Dad" interchangeably. It goes back to the days when I was 17 yrs old, and out on a jobsite with Dad, and too dumb and too proud to admit that I was working with my old man. You know I wanted to be my own man)

I had no idea what to expect. Would it be a bunch of time spent sitting in a classroom studying the history of metal work? would we have to start at the bronze age, go over the iron, and then at the end of the second day watch the guy make a fireplace poker?

To my surprise, after a short safety talk, and a brief introduction, each member of the class took positions forge-side, and before i knew it I had a 2 lb hammer in my hand and I was pounding on hot molten steel! Wayne and I are no strangers to a torch, and Dad has spent alot more time welding than I have, but surprisingly enough, we found ourselves joking around, giving the instructor a hard time, and learning (and I quote the syllabus directly)

"...the basics of blacksmithing from forge and fire control to hammer control. You will learn to forge a fish tail scroll, pig tail scroll, tab hook, drive hook, forge poker, water can handle, and other student selected projects as time permits."

Our instructors, Ray Neubauer, and Bob Nagle were great instructors, and through demonstration, hands-on instruction, and the occasional "corrective procedure" really helped us all feel like blacksmithing was something we could spend more time doing.

You can bet that when November comes around and its time for the intermediate class, I'll be signed up for what I know will be another great weekend. I'm also thinking about joining the guild but now the big question- where can i get my hands on one of those anvils?

I also got to spend a little time with Wayne- although I called him "Dad" most of the weekend, because the old pride just ain't what it used to be, and one of the guys thought we were brothers when we walked up- and I just couldn't have that!

Bart's Junk

We went to see the new Simpson's movie this weekend, and I have to admit it was a little wierd sitting in a large dark room with 250 other people watching the Simpsons. There were the usual gags, a few funny surprising moments, and a few genuine laughs- but the biggest thing was a dare between Homer and Bart where Homer dared Bart to skateboard naked to the Krusty Burger and back.

Bart's crusing down the street nude and a more than a few conveniently placed items cover little Bart, and then Bam! Bart's junk! Little Bart flashed on the screen for everyone to see. It wasn't that big of a deal, but it was just a little surprising- given that the male member is usually taboo in even R rated movies.

Aside from the Bart "member shot" it felt like a long episode of the Simpsons. I mean these characters have been in our lives for over 17 years! This show lasted longer than my first marriage for cryin' out loud. Standing in line and paying to see the Simpsons is kinda like going to the zoo to see your own pets in cages.

Its not that I didn't like it. I'm a Simpsons devotee- I've been watching the Simpson family not grow up or get any older since they were a short at the end of the Tracy Ullman Show. Its just that the movie didn't feel like a movie.

There was a few slow moments where I thought a remote would be handy- you know, not really "change the channel" just see what else is on for a second. The Simpsons at this point are like ambient TV. Its whats on when there's nothing on. Its what you have on BEFORE Prime time. There's much to be said about the "staying power" of the Simpsons, about its permanent place in American culture, and its enduring charm- but if you wanna pay to see the Simpsons, come to my house around 7pm every evening. For $40 I'll give you all the popcorn you can eat, a big soda, and even let you hold the remote.

under my umbah- rella ella ella eh eh oh eh eh

Has anyone else noticed that Rihanna's song has massive issues in the rhyming category?

When the sun shines, we’ll shine together
Told you I'll be here forever
Said I'll always be a friend
Took an oath I'ma stick it out till the end
Now that it's raining more than ever
Know that we'll still have each other
You can stand under my umbrella
You can stand under my umbrella
(Ella ella eh eh eh)
Under my umbrella
(Ella ella eh eh eh)
Under my umbrella
(Ella ella eh eh eh)
Under my umbrella
(Ella ella eh eh eh eh eh eh)

I'm sorry- but forever doesn't qualify as rhyming with ever, because you can't use a word to rhyme if its the same as the suffix- and then other and umbrella just do not work at all. It doesn't even work in ebonics.

I did, however realize that it works in hillbilly, because in certain parts of the south an umbrella is commonly referred to as an umbreller. Unfortunately this doesn't seem to work very well for the genre-So I made new lyrics that actually rhyme with umbrella:

When the sun shines, it shines through windows made by pella
Told you that sammich was poisoned with salmonella
Said I'll always be a friend
Took an oath I'm going to stick it out till the end
Now that it's raining on my friend named Ella
Know that I'll feature you in my next novella
You can stand under my umbrella

I thought about adding
"I'm glad there's loud accompaniment because I can't sing a capella"
but I thought that might be too mean.

Hey Rihanna- it's called Rhymezone.com. Look into it.

Oh yeah- I almost forgot, Umbrella has three syllables. I hate this friggin song.