Dark Corridors

Late one evening, serving as a missionary in Brazil, my companion and I lost track of time at an appointment. Realizing we were going to miss curfew, we raced out of the house and down the road. Hard-pressed for time, we decided to take a shortcut through a dark alleyway. As we entered, two muggers followed in after us; we were met by two more at the other end. One pulled out a gun while the others took our bags, and all valuable material. Fortunately all we had were cheap street watches and about $2 between us, and they left us otherwise unharmed. Like the city in Brazil, the internet is full of dark passageways. Amidst all of the tools and resources the internet has to offer, we must be careful -- Danger is lurking behind every corner and can take many forms. It may be a virus-filled email or a sultry advertisement; you may inadvertently follow a wrong link, or choose to succumb to an unholy curiosity. Whatever the threat, the best form of security is a knowledge of what to avoid. Once I knew the alleyway was dangerous, you can bet I never went near a similar one again.

The Cost of Attention

My birthday was last month. I apologize if you wished me happy birthday on my Facebook page. I didn't read it. To be honest, I can't remember the last time I checked my Facebook account. It isn't the countless hours wasted "Facebook stalking", farmvilling, and hot-or-notting that drove me to abstinence. In fact, for the longest time I didn't even really know why I stopped. I think I know now.

Recently I was reading a book by Clay Shirky called "Here Comes Everybody." In the book he describes the powerful effect that the internet has on forming social groups. In one part of the book, he briefly talks about how the internet has made the cost of forming these groups obsolete. He explains that "cost... is used in the economist's sense of anything expended -- money, but also time, effort, or attention." It is the last item in that list that really got me thinking. How has the cost of attention become obsolete in forming these groups?

Immediately I thought of the frivolity of status updates on Facebook, thoughtless Twitter messages, and careless wall posts. Millions of people are blabbing to the world when no one is listening. Shirky argues that indeed there are people listening. His argument is that conversations taking place on the internet between friends are synonymous to meeting up and chatting at the mall. However, if my close friends, and siblings are spouting out every fickle second of their lives, it doesn't matter where they are, I don't want to listen to it.

What's more, the comments that are being posted online are half-baked at best. Little or no thought is put into conversations on the web; it is far to easy to say things that can be mis-construed or are intentionally deceitful. As an example: Cyber-bullying is a result of careless teens and children who somehow feel that the things they are saying and doing online isn't real. Those children, and others are suffering from verbal apathy. The computer is merely a facade. Real people with real emotions are behind.

My heart holds no ire for Facebook. I completely value the ability to keep in touch with relatives and friends on a regular basis, and I know of no better tool suited for that purpose. That said, Facebook, and other social networking sites should not be the canvas for careless abstraction. Be considerate, be thoughtful, be true, and above all, think before you say.

iPad Vengeance

I really struggled to cut it down to the right time. I probably could have done it, but It is getting late. Enjoy!

Software Hypocrites

It is far too easy to get caught up in software piracy, and it is even easier to justify the use of that software. Either the software is too expensive, you need to learn it, or you want to use it for personal projects. Whatever the reasoning, there can be no justification for a software company to use illegitimate copies of other software. Software companies that use pirated software are hypocrites. How can you expect others to purchase your software when you are too cheep to purchase it from everyone else? If you know your company is using illegal software, it doesn't hurt to ask them to buy a license. If your company cannot afford a certain product, alternatives exist. Don't be a software hypocrite!

Forcing Women to Technology

Increasingly many nations are beginning to rise to the standards of innovation established by the western world. In an attempt to help the US stay on top, Senator Wyden explains how Title IX encourages more women into technological fields. However, with statements like "Women represent a largely untapped resource," and "Title IX has yet to be applied stringently enough" (emphasis added) it becomes clear that our government cheerleaders are actually political juggernauts forcing women to technology. Yes women are capable; yes they have much to contribute to the advancement of technology; and yes there still exists discrimination in the technical realm. But can we really coerce women into these disciplines?

Family History Can Save Your Life

Researching family history can be extremely rewarding and can satisfy a hunger rooted deep within us. It will answer questions such as: where did I come from, who am I, and why am I here? But among all the benefits of researching your family history, who knew that it could save your life? A knowledge of your family history helps identify common genetic traits that lead to certain cancers and other illnesses. If you are aware of a family line of genetic illness, talk to your doctor to see if you need to be screened or tested. Get tested early. Many illnesses can be discovered years before there are any symptoms. There have been numerous cases where family history has saved lives. You can not afford to be ignorant. Click here to learn more about family history and your risk of disease.

Feast Upon the Digital Word

The Gospel Library application was my very first iPad download. After lugging around binders, manuals, scriptures and notebooks with me to church, I was finally able to consolodate my church life into one digital tool. Not only did the iPad give me access to all the resources I needed at church, but I was also able to link General Conference talks to my scriptures, access every church manual, and become the coolest guy in my ward. People started asking me questions about the iPad during Sunday School. They would watch me scroll through scriptures, occasionally commenting on how cool something looked. A man in my ward even offered me a job doing logo design for his company because he had seen me drawing on the iPad during a church meeting. It didn't take long to realize the iPad was becoming a distraction to other people and to myself. Eventually, I resolved to abstain from the digital word of the Lord. After a few clean weeks, I began once again to crave the power of the iPad. Convincing myself that with proper use, the iPad could be a fantastic tool, I have resolved once again to use it at Church. Since then, the iPad has increased my participation in lessons by giving me an infinite number of resources to cite and speeding up the scripture search process. Thus, if used properly, the iPad will truly let you feast upon the digital word!

How bazaar is open source development?

Open source development is much like a regular production environment, but bigger. In "The Cathedral and The Bazaar", Eric Raymond lists several key aspects of open source development including, releasing often, having lots of users, and extensively testing the code. Each key point made by Raymond can be applied to closed-source development, the key difference being that open source has more users willing to find and contribute to bugs, more releases for collaboration, and more people developing the software all for free. But is more really more? There will be more people fooling around in the code base introducing bugs, more unhappy users that want a more stable product, and more people with completely different programming styles and semantics mucking up the code. I'll let you manage a code base with over 1,000 collaborators. I'm sticking to a small team.