Computers 'R' Us

The primary reason I had for beginning this blog was to comment and raise questions about the effect computing power has had and continues to have on all of us, both as individuals and as a society.  But, I have strayed from that path into other topics, and I believe I should get back to my original purpose.  So, starting today, I will periodically address these issues. 

Computing power has an enormous potential for both good and bad, and it is up to us, the informed citizenry, to decide the difference.  It is said that the most influential invention of the last 1000 years was the printing press because of how much it eased the distribution of information.  Now, think how much easier the distribution of information has become because of the Internet, and you will begin to see how much of an impact computing will have on our lives. 

There will be times in this blog in which I will look at computer related ethics in both the narrow sense and the broad sense.  By “broad sense”, I mean that we can examine a particular use of computer technology and think in terms of “is this a good idea?” rather than just narrowly right or wrong, or legal/illegal.  You can probably think of many things that are both legal and morally ok, but a bad idea overall.  An example would be to play golf in a thunderstorm.  This is not forbidden by any law or ethical code that I know of, only the laws of good sense.  There may be computer technology related issues that fall in this same category, but since computer power is so new, this may not be something we have thought about. 

Computer power raises new issues for all of us.  These fall into 3 big areas:

1.     Old problems may become worse because of the speed and pervasiveness of computers.  An example of this are the privacy issues raised because of the wide use of databases by companies and other organizations.  Since computer storage is cheap, and file sharing is easy, some of our formerly “private” information is now very public.  Because saving data on a computer is cheap and easy, organizations tend to keep much more information than they did in the pre-computer era.  They can also process that data much more quickly now. 

2.     Old problems get a new slant.  An example of this is the copyright laws, and how difficult it is to interpret their meaning as it applies to digital media.  We will be discussing this in more detail.

3.     New problems are created that never existed before, such as computer viruses.

Decision, decisions.

Today is graduation day here.  I came early so I could get a good parking place, so I am putzing around the office doing this and that.  The students have their rite of passage today.  That, and the fact that I will be turning 60 in a few weeks reminds me of my approaching rite of passage--retirement.  

I have pretty well decided the "when" of my retirement", but not the "where".  It's something frequently in the back of my mind.  At this point, I can identify 4 options.

1.  Stay right here.  It's a nice community, no moving expenses required, and I should have everything I need.  But not everything I want. 
2.  Move back to my old home state.  I would be able to see family and friends more frequently, and the shopping is better.  But the heat in the summer just kills me.
3.  Move closer to my son's place so I could see him more often.  It's a nice state, but the cost of living is very high. 
4.  My cousin and I have talked about sharing a place close to where her son and grandchildren live.  Right now they live in Montana, but that could change. And if they move around from place to place in the coming years, she would want to follow them. 

There are positives and negatives to every choice.  I'm glad I have several years to think about it. 

Whew!

This is finals week where I work.  Today I will give my last final, then it's just grading and posting.  No more watching the clock to get to class, no more meetings, no more (for a while) tyrrany of the urgent.  This has been a very very busy semester, and I'm glad to see the back of it.  I have 3 (count them...3!) vacations planned for the summer, and I am looking forward to all 3 of them!  This is unusual for me, and I am feeling quite indulgent.  I need some indulgent.  Goes well with beer. 

Of course, there is a long list of work-related tasks scheduled for the summer.  Only in the summer do I have time for writing and publication, preparing for textbook/software changes, and so on.  But there is no clock watching or calendar watching on any of these, so it's much less stressful. 

My first vacation is going back to my old home state for visiting friends and family.  Can't wait!  

Well, now that's news!

I first found out the news about Osama b.L. this morning when I came to work.  I'm very glad to see that project has been completed. 

People that don't know me well tend to think I'm very even tempered.  On the outside, I am.  My temper tends to be very cold, cerebral and calculating.  My ex used to tell me I didn't get mad, I got even. 

I understand why the military needed to make sure ol' Osama received a proper Islamic ceremonial body preparation and burial.  However, personally speaking, that would not have been my first choice.  I think his body should have been dismembered into 10 to 12 pieces, and each piece stuck atop a tall pole in Central Park, so the New York citizens should enjoy the view.  And, watch the crows eat away at his rotting flesh.

I love it when a plan comes together.

Two years ago, I took the initiative to start a student computer club here.  We became an official campus club, and also became associated with a national professional group.  We rocked along for three semesters, and we had some successful events, but it didn't quite "jell".  This semester, another faculty member volunteered to be the official sponsor, as I was teaching an overload, but I remained attached to the club as a faculty helper.  The combination turned out to be just what we needed!  Suddenly, there was all sorts of stuff going on.  We took an overnight road trip to the other side of the state to visit a major software firm, which was a great experience for the students.  And yesterday, the club sponsored a mini-conference here on campus that turned out to be quite popular, and well attended in spite of the fact that we had unintentionally scheduled it at the same time as another on-campus event.

The students here are great, and easy to work with.  The faculty is the same.  So glad I'm here! 

And, suddenly, BAM, spring is finally here!  Easter Sunday, the temps bounced up to the 60's, the sun came out, the remainder of the snow melted, and within the next day or two the grass on my lawn all turned green and started growing.  There are places in my front lawn that could use mowing already.  The lilac bush by my porch is budding.  It should be a great summer.

Did I mention snow?

We are under a winter storm warning..expected accumulations of 4 to 8 inches of snow.
There was about 2 inches of new snow on the ground when I got up this morning, and it is still snowing heavily.  If it continues, the administration could feasibly cancel classes.  

I'm sure Santa is confused.  He must think it's December again.  I'm sure I heard sleigh bells last night.

Snow, snow, snow

Yesterday morning, Palm Sunday, I awoke to see that snow had started to fall during the night.  It snowed most of the day.  Since I was expecting guests Sunday evening, I found myself shoveling snow from the sidewalk in the afternoon of April 17.  This morning, I found more snow had fallen, and was still falling.  We are under a Winter Weather Advisory.  We are used to lots of winter here, but people are really starting to grouse, because we are colder than normal for this time of year. 

This morning I came to work and found that our secretary had sent out this notice to all dept. faculty:

INSTALLING SPRING...


% % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % %     44% DONE.


Install delayed....please wait.

Installation failed. Please try again.

404 error: Season not found.

Season "Spring" cannot be located. The season you are looking for might have been removed,

had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable.

Please try again later.