Digital Roadkill on the Information Superhighway

“The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side.”
- James Baldwin

My wife and I have virtually dropped out of the Rural Fire Service, for a couple of reasons. One is a general dislike of the current status of Captains within a brigade; they have a lot of responsibility but bugger all real authority. The other officers have even less authority; they actually have no authority away from an emergency scene unless they are acting in the Captain’s role due to absence. None at all, not even within their own brigade stations. Captains can at least make operational decisions even if they can’t make people do things that they should be (or stop them doing things that they shouldn’t).

Having to step back from managing a couple of disputes due to the possibility of bias – my family members were involved – allowed those disputes to escalate out of control. My superiors? When I tried to include my immediate superior he was told by his superiors to back off as it wasn’t his job! His superiors would only step in if things were taken to an official complaint stage.

Letting things get to this point would have torn the brigade apart as the process is not a pleasant one. As I was not allowed to control my own Deputy Captains and my superiors would not do anything other than lend an ear I stepped down from the Captain’s position; my wife stepped down from her Deputy Captain’s position also and we removed ourselves from all other positions of responsibility.

I sat down with the incoming Captain and my then-superior officer for 3 hours and told them both exactly why we were stepping  back. Unfortunately those reasons have aparently translated to “tired and need a break” somewhere between my mouth and the incoming Captain’s ears. He just doesn’t appear to actually give a crap.

Unfortunately, since the person at the centre of the issues had managed to drive every other experienced member away from the  brigade except one, that meant that a person with a long history in the brigade but little modern Service experience was left running the show. Why is it important to know the modern Service as opposed to having lots of experience with the “Bushfire Brigade” version of things? Because the Service has changed significantly over the past 10 years, with that change accelerating recently. There is no way that brigades can be run the way that they used to be.

The problem child was left as the 2IC – the problem child that has very little fire experience. The only other officer currently is one of my sons; he ain’t happy and won’t be an officer next time around. Every remaining actively-involved fire fighter in the brigade is what is termed a “Basic Firefighter” – that is, barely trained, inexperienced and can only operate under the direct supervision of a more qualified fire fighter.

The future is a little vague but it is fairly certain that when we move we will remain involved with the Service; 20 years is a lot to give up and neither of us really want to do that. I for one will definately not be seeking any sort of officer’s role. Unless of course the Service was to finally grow up and give it’s volunteer officers the authority to go with their responsibilities. Not much chance of that in my lifetime I’m afraid; so I’ll remain a hose holder and get involved with training if they’ll have me; training fire fighters is somewhat of a passion of mine.

Be proud of your ignorance! Embrace your lack of knowledge! For that is what drives you on – the need to fill that void where you loose your grasp of knowing and not knowing looms large before you.

Unfortunately, for various reasons, I never got to swap the tablet over for a replacement. Bugger! Somewhere in the intervening

period the digitiser screen was broken. I have a good 10″ tablet LCD if anyone needs one …

Guess I’ll have to wait for a while before trying again; this time with a name brand, too.

Well dear reader (you know who you are): It has been an interesting period since my last posting. Seven months is a long time!

Busy with work for the most part, frustrating, sometimes scary and generally annoying for the rest of the time. Oh, and there were some fun interludes.

Way too much to put in one post, so I’m going to split things up.

Well, that didn’t last long. Three days and it’s over.

The initial symptom was a dying screen, with all the signs of a loose connection. Then the screen went blank but you could still hear that the tablet was operating due the beeps and other noises it was making. After a short while, nothing.

The battery still charges but nothing else happens. Dead.

I contacted the supplier and they have indicated that I can exchange. I have to ship it back and as soon as I get a tracking number they will ship out another – no waiting for mine to get back before sending the new one to me. Given it takes 3 weeks to ship that’s a relief.

Or I can ship the whole kit back and they will refund the purchase price, once again with no waiting. As the original shipping was free it’s a fair deal.

I think I will probably exchange it. This time. If the next one dies I’ll go for a refund.

I’m going to miss having an e-reader. I really like reading.

I’ve now joined the tablet generation! Sounds like an age group that takes pills? Not really.

I’ve just purchased a 10.2″ Android tablet. Only a cheapie, not one of the brand name units that cost more than I can afford now or in the near future. The idea is to see if it is useful without breaking the bank. I bought it, a Chinese “Android Tab10″ a.k.a. “Flytouch III” running Android 2.3, from an eBay supplier shipping out of Hong Kong.

The initial impression is that it is cheap. A nasty plastic back that is going to scratch really easily – it already has in fact and it has only been out of the packing for 12 hours. A screen that moves every so slightly along one part of the top edge; that might be trouble later. Resistive, so single touch and requiring a firm finger or reversion to using the (provided) stylus. Purchasing more screen protectors is going to be a must. And a slip case…

The speakers work at an extremely low volume and the supplied ear-buds sound bloody awful; on the up-side my headphones sound okay. I’m not to sure that the microphone works at all; at least, I couldn’t talk to Skype when I gave it a go last night but that may just need some tweeking. The camera is strictly web-cam grade, good for Skype and not much else. Then again, if you want to take good pictures, buy a real camera, yeah?

The inbuilt AppMarket application works without a hitch, but it doesn’t link appear to the official Android app market so some of the newer apps are not available. When I accessed the official market the device type wasn’t recognised and I couldn’t download anything.

The inbuilt GPS (external antenna) works quite well, holding the satellite signals as I went from outdoors to indoors, something that my Garmin won’t do. The app placed me right where it should of on Google Maps.

The 2GB of internal storage – I think it is literally a micro-SD card – is handy and having an external micro-SD slot will be good. Two USB ports give more storage options too.

The wireless works well and the full-size RJ45 ethernet port means no lost adapters causing headaches. Not having inbuilt 3G is no great loss in Australia as the carriers charge an arm and a leg for data access. There are plenty of free Wi-Fi spots around the place and if I ever get the urge I can always buy a 3G USB unit.

Some apps, I suspect, are not going to work terribly well. I installed a Mahjong app without a problem but it hangs, or at least I think it does, as I run it up; it takes a power cycle to regain access.

Video playback covers the formats I want (AVI, MP4, FLV) with only a slightly noticible jerkiness, though it is possible that it is an artifact of the original conversion; time will tell. I haven’t had a chance to check out the inbuilt HDMI interface yet.

The provided e-reader has a serious flaw – you can’t set a bookmark, which means that if you power cycle the unit you have to find your place again; a laborious process when you can’t jump to a page but have to “leaf” through them. There are plenty of other e-reader apps out there though.

[Edit: Yes, it does have bookmarks and a scroll process; it just took me a while to find them...]

So far it gives me what I want – to read books and watch movies. At 1/3 to 1/10th the price of a name-brand unit that will do for now. Once I get the hang of it and find some useful apps it might just be worthwhile. I hope so.

From Reuters, September 21, 2011 (Kate Kelland)

… French scientist Alain Aspect, American John Clauser and Austrian Anton Zeilinger may be in with a chance of the (Nobel) Physics prize for their work on quantum entanglement, a notion that an exasperated Albert Einstein once described as “spooky action at a distance.”

Quantum entanglement involves the theory that particles can be connected in such a way that changing the state of one instantly affects the other, even when they are miles apart.

Entanglement plays an important role in the development of super-fast quantum computers, which scientists believe could outperform conventional computers by being able to test many possible solutions to a problem at once.

Aspect, Clauser and Zeilinger confirmed the entanglement phenomenon in a series of sophisticated experiments during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, and in 2010 won the Wolf Prize in Physics for their work.

“While a full description of the kind that Einstein wanted is still not in anybody’s pocket, these experiments have been fundamental in physics in the 20th century,” said Pendlebury.

“They have confirmed spookiness at a distance. And I think Einstein would continue to be annoyed that there is not a better explanation for how this occurs.”

Seems to me, in my simple minded way, that they are describing any of a bunch of phenomena knows as “psychic”. Telepathy, where the brain of one person affects the brain of another, causing auditory or visual effects; Telekinesis, where the brain affects physical matter (with all of the sub-categories such as controlling light, creating “stuff” from thin air, etc); Pryokinesis, where a brain affects the vibration of atoms in an object so that its internal temperature reaches the point where it combusts.

They are the basic examples. One of the contentions for telepathy has been that it is “instantaneous”; the research into Quantum Entanglement would seem to support that.

So they reckon they can create a computer that utilises Quantum Entanglement theory for high-speed multi-path processing? Sounds like a brain. Wonder if the interface to us lowly humans will be something that bears a remarkable resemblance to long-dreamt-of telepathy?

Yeah, I know. This is an incredibly simplistic view of quantum physics; but wouldn’t it be fun? And spooky?

Decision made, the doors close us in the tomb,
Promising rebirth in another place and time.

Part of the crowd we travel alone,
Starting the day moving silently into darkness,
Abdicating our lives.

With the stillness of death we advance toward the day
In reclining towers of Babel that move in broken surges across our lives,
Simultaneously swallowing and vomiting motes of light with every pause.

Connecting, we disconnect.
Friends remembered through electronic noise
While pieces of our lives are plucked from steel trees,
The scraps thrown to uncaring strangers.

We pass by images ignored and worlds unseen,
Future hope and past experience just shadows on our clenched souls.

The worm glows, disgorging parasites in its tunnels.
Unseeing, uncaring, unknowing, it moves on
Leaving us to press our way out through those entering,
Exchanging lives with the brush of a shoulder,
Muttering apologies for guessed offenses.

Dancing the intricate pattern where nobody sees their partner,
Eyes sliding from face to face without recognition,
Escape grasped firmly in clenched fists.

A minute of sun,
Unseen from our place in the shadows
Ignoring the face of God.

Entering the new towers,
Thrusting skyward
We are propelled as seed,
To expend without release.

Goodness gracious, it has been a while, hasn’t it?

Well, I made it through the first three months. A lot of things to be remembered, some to be re-learned, and some new stuff. All-in-all, fun.

They like me and I like them so I can’t see me wandering off any time soon. Good times!

Yes indeedy; time for a quick update.

Working full time again, in IT and a not-for-profit to boot. Loving it.

Not as a it’s-all-your-fault manager, which would lead me down the path of madness again, but as the bloke who’s job it is to make sure others can do their job properly. Much more betterer.

Commuting for four hours each day, but that’s just a good excuse to read a book and has never worried me.

The real estate agent is happy with us, the power company has (for now) stopped threatening to cut us off, and all is good with the world. A regular salary, albeit not earth-shattering income, lets us budget and plan properly so that’s good too.

I feel… comfortable for the first time in a heck of a long time. Now to try and make sure that nothing else jumps up and surprises us.