PCBEEUSA - Freedom on the Web

Every baby boomer in America is remembering Walter Cronkite.  He was there when Kennedy was assassinated, when King was assassinated and when Neil Armstrong stepped onto the surface of the moon.

I was, and always have been a big fan of the space program.  I would be late for school on the morning when there was a launch.  Walter Cronkite seemed to be a much a part of the space program as any astronaut; he was always there.  I will never forget his reaction when we landed on the moon.

I can hardly believe it.  Spongbob Squarepants has been on the air 10 years.  I remember the first time I saw that show.  “How dumb” I thought.  The next time, I thought, “how silly.”  The third time I watched an entire program.

No, I am not a Spongebob fan, but I realize how little child-appropriate entertainment there is out there. 

When I was growing up, cartoons were for kids. I got tired of “South Park” after the first season when the novelty wore off.  I really like “Family Guy,” but the shows are getting more and more offensive. 

Spongebob is a kids cartoon.  No sillier than “Huckleberry Hound,” “The Flinstones,” or any of the other shows I grew up with.  From what I have seen, Spongebob is clean simple fun, and the children seem to love him.   So, long live Spongebob!

There is so much controversy over the press presenting a negative image of Michael Jackson after his passing. I heard some announcer on CNN assuring that their coverage had always been respectful.

Let’s face it. Michael Jackson was weird. And I sure his upbringing had a lot to do with it. But, as I recall, Elvis Presley was weird, John Lennon was weird. What we remember, though is their great talent and musical legacy they left behind. The same will be true of MJ.

So I’ll listen to my favorite Micheal Jackson, Elvis and Beatles music and not worry about how strange they were. That’s just not important to me.

I was working at a local high school, helping to train students on a new software application.  As I walked around the computer lab, I caught several students checking out their My Space page or, in one case, watching the new Spiderman movie online–a month before the theatrical release.  I mentioned it to the school’s IT coordinator. She explained that the servers are set to block those pages, but there are websites out there that help you bypass all that.

Not suprisingly, there are all kinds of things, legitimate and otherwise, that you can find online, free or for a fee. You could, for example, buy a term paper and save yourself the trouble of working for your diploma (I often wonder if a professor ever got the exact same paper from two different people?).

Well, today, I read of something that, I would never have thought of.  There is a website that sells corrupted word processing files.  You read that right.  Corrupted files that won’t open.  The idea is you have a report due soon, and you don’t have time (or you’re too lazy) to complete it on time.  So, you purchase a corrupt file, rename it and turn that in.  A couple of days later, when the instructor tries to open the file, he or she finds that it won’t open and asks you to send it again.

Meanwhile, you’ve had a couple of extra days to finish the assignment.

Of course, sometimes it is possible to fix corrupted files.  If the program can’t do it, there are services out there that often can.  So if the teacher is clever, the whole thing could backfire.

No, I won’t give you the url.

Sometimes the illegal is also dangerous.  Like every other major movie, the next Harry Potter film will  be available online long before the film is released.  It was announced today that illegal downloads of this movie are very likely to contain a very dangerous virus.

So buy a movie ticket or rent the DVD, OK?

And do your own homework…

My wife and I were at an event with food, music and dancing earlier this evening.  Shortly after we arrived, the DJ took a moment to speak on the passing of a music icon.  Micheal Jackson, the “King of Pop” had died earlier today.

My wife and I looked at each other.  We had not heard the news.

“That’s strange,” I said, “I had just read that Farah Fawcett had passed away today.”

“That’s three!” she said.

“Three?” I asked.

“Always happens in threes.  Ed McMahon died over the weekend!”

Ok, I am not that superstitious.  I don’t think she really is either.  But it was strange.

Of course the thing that hits me the most is that these were the celebrities I grew up with.  Ed McMahon co-hosted the Tonight Show with Johnnie Carson forever.  I remember a Farah Fawcett as the young  blonde bombshell that boys dreamed about.  And I watched Michael Jackson evolve from a talented little kid to what he finally became before passing away at 50 years of age today.

Guess I’m just feeling a little old right now…

A young man in Kansas recovers so remarkably that people are calling it a miracle.  The Vatican is investigating.  If they determine that his recovery is indeed miraculous, he will become elevated to sainthood.  http://www.kansas.com/196/story/861812.html

Huh?

I’m not questioning the miracle of his recovery, but sainthood?  I wonder what criteria the Catholic Church uses to determine a miracle?

I remember the first time I saw the move “The Ten Commandments.”  The scene where the Red Sea parts and the people are walking between gigantic walls of water.  Years later, I read that when the Bible speaks of a wall of water (Exodus 14:22, NIV, for example), the term “wall” did not have the same meaning it does now.  Apparently a “wall” back then could be any barrier.  One theory has it that there was a sand bar in the middle of the sea, and weather and water conditions were such that the sand bar was uncovered long enough for the Isrealites to cross.  The “wall of water” was the flat water on each side of the exposed sandbar.

Ok, I wasn’t there, maybe Mr. DeMille got it right.  But, if the sandbar theory is true, does that mean it was not a miracle?  I think if that happened now, especially with such perfect timing, I would be impressed!  The miracle could be the timing, or the fact that the sandbar existed, in exactly the right place, at all.  Some believers don’t like to hear that.  For some, a miracle has to be stunning, unbelievable, mind-blowing.  In short, like real life special effects.

Yes, I am a man of science, but a lot of things go way beyond science.  Some of the most amazing miracles are things we simply take for granted.  Even if you accept the theory of evolution, it’s kind of hard to believe that something as complex and amazing as the human body is the result of random events.  If you think that the Universe started out with a “Big Bang,” then, Who lit the fuse?

Yes, amazing things happen, but miracles happen every day, with the birth of a child, the rising of the sun, the simple fact that this planet is in exactly the perfect position from the sun to support life.

Want to see a true miracle?

Look in the mirror.

Ever heard of fan fiction?  That’s fiction written by fans of a TV or movies series.  For example, imagine writing your own Star Trek or Law and Order episode.  Well, you can do that, and put it on line for others to enjoy.

The website is FanFiction.net.  Think you have a great idea for a story using your favorite characters?  Go for it.  In fact, why not mix it up a little.  What would happen if Archie Bunker met Fred Sanford?  What if the cops from Law and Order turned the corner and ran into Batman?  It’s called crossover, and it’s a very popular form of fan fiction.  The most famous crossover was a very early story that mixed Tom Baker’s Dr. Who with the orginal characters of Star Trek, called “Dr. Who and the Enterprise.”

Why am I going on about fan fiction?  Well, it is one of my favorite hobbies.  I have a few stories on line at http://www.fanfiction.net/~computersteve.  The stories involve some of my favorites.  Duncan McLeod appears in the Star Trek universe in a story called “Where No Clan Has Gone Before,” which was followed by a couple of sequels written by request.  Then, my favorite megalomaniac, The Brain (of Pinky and the Brain) take on the Enterprise, much to the chagrin of Capt. Picard and company.  My most recent piece features the current Dr. Who and Martha who meet up with a suprising advisary.

And it’s not all just science fiction.  I have seen stories about the Odd Couple, Pokemon, you name it.

So check it out.  Have some fun.  Submit your own!  And come back and tell me what you think.  Who says you have to grow up?

I used to laugh at movies like “Colossus: The Forbin Project”,”War Games”  or even “The Terminator” series where  supercomputers or robots are given so much power and control over our lives that they decide that they know what is best and take over.  I used to laugh beacause, I would think, “who would give that much control to a machine? Who would trust a machine to such an extent?”

I just read a story about a demolition company that actually tore down the wrong house because, as they claim, their GPS system sent them to the wrong location.  According to the story, they were just given the GPS coordinates.

What?  No one looked at addresses?  Were there no descriptions of the property?  They put so much absolute trust in the technology that there were no checks and balances?

The problem is a man’s childhood home (which was empty at the time) with all of the photos, keepsakes and memories are gone.  Because of, supposedly, a technical glitch.

I don’t laugh at the “computers take over the world” movies anymore.  No, I don’t think there are any super-intelligent machines out there, nor do I think there ever will be.  But we have gotten so lazy that we happily turn control of our lives over to the machines.

Young people no longer know how to do simple math.  In elementary school they use calculators, in high school and college they use computers (I used a slide rule). Those that get jobs at fast food chains and retail stores only have to press the buttons on the register. All of the math is done for them, and it tells them how much change to give.  They don’t have to think, so they don’t.

I teach computer technology, and I am constantly counseling people to not trust the spell checker and grammar checker in thier Word Processor.  They are only there to make suggestions.  When I teach spreadsheets and databases, I often have adult students who are suprised and disappointed when they learn that they have to think before building a solution; the software can do the work, but you have to tell it what work and how.

A computer can never replace the human mind.

Of course, the whole idea of computers was to make life a little easier, and to make the complex possible.  But we have allowed ourselves to become a “spoon fed” society of people who choose not to think.  So now we go to the movies and see super robots, warp speed space ships and light sabers and think it all possible.

Now I am a little scared.

Many people will disagree, but I think that, without a doubt, the greatest science fiction film ever made was “2001: A Space Odyssey.” 

I saw it back in 1968 when it was first released.  It was my first real date in high school with a young lady I was crazy about at the time.  It was supposed to be a special evening, a reserved seat engagement at the Micheal Todd Theatre.  Really big deal.

I loved every second of it; completely blew my mind.  My date was lost after the opening credits.  No, she is not the one I married.

30 years later and I am attending a “Star Trek” convention, where one of the guests is Gary Lookwood, who not only starred in a pilot episode of “Star Trek” (“Where No Man Has Gone Before”), but he also played Fank Poole in 2001.

One of the most cherished items in my collection is a photo autographed by Lockwood.

41 years later and I am attending a special showing of “2001″ at the Music Box Theatre in Chicago. The special guest on stage after the film was Mr. Lockwood.

After answering questions, he signed autographs.  The lines were not nearly as long as the last time I saw him.  Very few people here old enough to remember “2001″ in it’s prime.  So this time, I got to chat with him for a few minutes and finally got a photo taken with him.

Well, it was a special moment for me, OK?

I am not a big blues fan, but I can appreciate any good music.

Koko Taylor was a classic.  She also shared my birthday!  My best friend Leonard and I (born same day same year) celebrate together every year.  About 10 or 15 years ago, we were celebrating on Rush street and saw a ‘Happy Birthday Koko’ sign at one of the clubs.  We went to join the party, but it was already over.  The guest of honor had left.

A couple of years ago, I’m walking into the Barnes and Nobel’s on State and Randolph and who do I see coming in the door but Koko herself.  She was there for a book signing.

Being one of the few people who actually recognized her, I asked if she’d take a picture with me.  She said she would love to take a picture “with a young man!”

Bless you, Koko!