Bytes and Doxx

This week, my Google Chrome browser stopped working, forcing me to delve back into the technical world of my computer.
I hate the moment when you realise how dependent you are on these fleeting virtual things.
 My front page, my most visited sites, my zillion bookmarks - all gone!
And let's not discuss - gulp - backups!

Seriously, I only ever consider my computers mortality when the BSOD occurs - otherwise, it's an eternal thing, right ?
Well, no, it shouldn't be...
[...at this point, I launch into a patronising tutorial on how to avoid computer catastrophe.]
Actually, I won't, as I have no tips beyond the usual IT reprise:
Turn it off and on again .

When it comes to computer technology, I'm a bit of a luddite, in that I don't do the phablet thing,
or lust after the latest Apple gadgets.
Back in the days when computers were clockwork versions of the Babbage machine, I wrestled with Amigas.
In those days, it was simple:
Amiga and Apple were good.
Microsoft was bad.

Ho-ho...

Now, it's not so simple.
Apple are seen as the corporate hipster monolith, whilst Linux in its many forms is the feisty newcomer, the freewheeling spirit of the age .
Microsoft have lost ground, and are desperately playing keep-up .
Amiga lost the most ground, but is back in a tiny niche...
Anyway, enough with the overview -


Many years ago, on a tight budget, I bought a second hand p.c.
The price was good, and whilst it wasn't cutting edge (it was a Phillips Freeline actually), it had room for expansion.
I decided to become self taught, at least enough to upgrade and generally 'tinker' under the hood.
After a few years of good service, the p.c. went to Blue Screen Heaven (or Hell, as I distinctly remember cursing it).
Luckily, I had backed up the drive, and knew enough to be able to salvage parts for the next machine.
I bought an off - the - peg machine with room for upgrades, and swiftly went from (cue geek trivia) a dual core cpu to a quad core apu, to an eight core apu with dual graphics (in crossfire mode).
[Don't know why I detailed that... ]

I tend to freeze in horror when confronted with a mass of multi-coloured wires, ( I had some experience of this many years ago, soldering an electronic fx console)*, but it's worth knowing how to upgrade the power supply, graphics card, on-board memory, etc.
It de-mystifies the process.
Knowledge is power, and all that.

I find it odd that we now live in a culture that is all about recycling etc, and yet people are keen to ditch technology at the first sign of 'something wrong'.
We live in a Convenience Culture...(cue Amazon Prime).
But when something is no longer convenient, then it's disposable .
Personally, this is why I am down on Apple, with the almost inbuilt obsolescense of its products:

'Hey , over here for the new shiny - what, it stopped working? - shame - how about this then, it's better, faster, more compact - just wait in line, we open at midnight for new tech...

It's easier to replace than to repair - mobile phones (and hermetically sealed Apple units) being the worst offenders.

I only upgraded from my old CRT monitor three years ago (I still miss the depth of colour - sigh ).
I remember when the very first i-pad came out, and how the thrill of being the first to own one turned people into arrogant bores.
Anyhow, rant over - I feel self-conscious now, as I realise that this falls into the category of 'humble-bragging' - another term that's developed through social media.
For instance- to me, DOS is a primitive form of machine code.
Confusion arose when I started reading of people suffering from DDOS:
apparently, whereas it once meant Disk-based Operating System - it now means Denial Of Service , or even Distributed Denial Of Service .
Confusing.
Infact, it was only the other day that I discovered another expression, 'Doxing' comes from the word 'documents.'
I'm so old, daddio.

The good old floppy disc, with a whopping 1 meg of storage...

Saying that, I read it online, so...
All these new terms,
so memes
such wow-
It moves so fast, that I hear the term 'Lol' is on the way out.
Welcome to the twenty-first century, me!
Something else I've noticed is that the terms used refer more to actions that are 'virtual' now.
As opposed to nuts and bolts machinery.

Back to the point - Google stopped working.
Still doesn't, so in the meantime, I've switched to DuckDuckGo.
And upgraded my RAM.
Which isn't connected, but there it is.
Increasing the RAM makes me realise that I need a water - cooling system now.
Except, I'll have to wait, as the MOBO will need replacing soon...
which means the graphics will need updating...
Such is the hamster wheel of (upgrade) life...






* which one was it, Piers ? Mark 1 or 2 ?

Limpets, Rubber Ducks and Cookies in Space

After my recent 'Dismaland' diversion, it's back to outer space - a new photo of Ceres reveals the mysterious mountain in greater detail.
The frustration increases, however, as we realise that this is the only close-up view we currently have, taken from some 900 miles above.
The strange mountain is also bizarre because it really is alone in an otherwise flat landscape, which is surely suggestive of an artificial origin.
I find this both fascinating and totally frustrating.
Frustrating because we won't get any more detailed images until December, when spacecraft Dawn enters a much lower orbit , taking closer shots from just 275 miles above.
Theories abound as to the nature of the 'mesa', with some saying it's material excavated from the nearby crater, and others declaring the 'spurs'  to be ice water.
The site has already been dubbed 'lonely mountain' by some Tolkien - lovers :
and I wouldn't be surprised if there was a dragon guarding treasure there...

A mountain or a space limpet ?                                   ©NASA/Caltech/JPL

Conjecture is all we have until further evidence arrives - I think it's amazing, especially given that our initial interest in Ceres was piqued by the highly reflective areas in what is now called the 'Occator' crater  - also still a mystery -
infact there has been a dearth of new information on that front, which has allowed exotic theories to abound.
There is conjecture that the mysterious 'reflections' are atop tall pillars which project above the crater edge ( giving us pillar / structures some two miles high)
An abandoned city / mining site has also been mooted - this is no longer such an outlandish idea , don't forget that we already have companies in place gearing up for offworld mining, after all.

New System tests             NASA jpg

Personally, I wonder if such ideas are being encouraged, purely to keep people interested in the otherwise quite 'dry' science of 'space-geography'.
Speaking of which, is there such a thing?
There should be, with the incoming data helping to create a database - after all, surely many of the oddities we are seeing arise because we try to make otherworld  geology match our own:
but our own knowledge is limited to this little blue planet.
Oh, and the moon.
Mars can be partly included as well, with Curiosity continuing its examination of ancient sedimentary rock and the like.
The recent flypast of Pluto / Charon gave us dramatic new geology with flowing water / methane ice, and changing, active landscapes.
The next focus for New horizons will be a Kuiper Belt object , 2014 MU69, about a billion miles beyond Pluto.

As we speak, tests are being run for Orion, NASAs next big thing, which will launch into lower Earth - orbit on December 4th as a test prelude to manned deep space missions, ultimately using a module which will facilitate deep space missions, but hasn't been created yet !
I'm a little dubious, given that the new Orion craft will be capable of  twenty- one days in space - surely not long enough to go anywhere meaningful - or is there some as yet unexplained quantum secret ?
As well as this, rather strangely, objects to be carried include a rubber duck, and a giant cookie - I kid you not !
So the next 'big' proposal from NASA involves astronauts circumnavigating the moon with the munchies and toys...

A giant cookie for space, obviously...          © NASA jpg

Surely the widespread legalisation of pot in the U.S.A. has affected hitherto serious decisions ?
Good to know then, that in this new space race, priorities are suitably warped...

Keep your Arms inside the Rides!

I wrote a whole blog-post about how stupidity was the new 'smart', but decided not to get bogged down in political shenanigans, so I withdrew it, and wrote this instead, as I'm sure that you would rather indulge in a little escapism from the realm of news media with its slant on war and mindless violence...

So - theme parks !
Mindless fun - or - how about one that comments on our disfunctional society ?
Yes ! You can indulge yourself whilst gaining a social conscience if you visit Dismaland! 
On a site in Weston-super-Mare, the infamous Banksy has decided to bring art out of the gallery and onto the street.
Of course, this street is a derelict two - acre site , which allows Banksy to reclaim his own childhood memories of the 'Tropicana', as it then was:
"You can stand ankle deep in stagnant water eating cold chips to the sound of children crying"
With that, he has certainly evoked my own memories of rain - lashed British seaside 'funfairs', which always struggled in their attempts to emulate the likes of Disneyland.
As a child in Scotland, the sky over Portobello always seemed grey and threatening.  There was always Ayr, but that was further west, and a wee bit too posh.

Portobello    pic ©by Lee Kindness

The unreliable British weather has always put paid to the lie of sunkissed paradise, with grumbling youngsters and adults shuffling through dreary amusement arcades, telling themselves that this time they would hook a big prize with the grab - arm machine, which, after all, looked ridiculously easy.
Even if such a thing happened and despite all the odds you won that two foot high Gonk on the shooting stall, how were you getting it home, and more to the point where would it go ?
There was always at least one sensible voice.
All petty concerns were vanquished, however, as you strode through the faceless throng, proud bearer of the trophy Gonk.

But I have strayed already, lost in my own nostalgia, where two - pence coins were a thing, and candy floss was immense.
Where rubber skulls with acrylic hair provided feeble amusement during enforced indoors play due to weather.
In fairness, I can't remember a truly jolly seaside theme park: there always seemed to be some inevitable disappointment.

Many years later, I rode the old rickety wooden rollercoaster of 'Dreamland ' in Margate before it closed down.
My only abiding memory was a sense of sadness - the park was huge, but - empty.
And, yes, it rained .
I loved my ironic yellow rain-mac, emblazoned with the legend, 'I escaped from Dreamland ' (now re-opened!)

Which brings me full circle - to Dismaland!, Britains first bemusement park.
I think it has been undermined by its own reality.
U.K. seaside funfairs tend to be lacklustre and drab anyway.

I was excited by the thought of 'Dismaland!' but now, I'm ambivalent.
I'm actually afraid that I'm missing the point.
I feel that the experience has been laid bare by the media, and frankly, the early hype made the mistake of focussing on 'Banksy'.
In fairness, he himself has emphasised the collaborative nature of the project, but...
Banksy! 
Cue website crashing, massive global interest, media frenzy.
Irony, much?
Even the poor ticketing in the early days was held up as an ironic example of the true british funfair experience.
Consumerism embraced in the form of anti-consumerism...
I can go with that, but the 'fairytale' princess is not exactly topical now, and the revelation by Julie Burchill that 'Punch and Judy' was sexist is not news.
Boatride of migrants ?
Death riding a dodgem car ?
Even the idea of exiting through the gift shop has no irony left.
Don't get me wrong, I'd still go.
Kicking and screaming.
Crying for an ice cream.
Which promptly drops as a seagull attacks.

Gravitas amidst the tomfoolery ?            pic ©Juxtapose

This was supposed to be a carefree look at theme parks.
Sorry about that.




                            Creative Commons as per usual, i.e., this is not a commercial venture

'How Not To Write' , Space Lettuce and Mysterious Mounds

Hello there,

                      

Seems like only a week since we last met - actually, it was.
I know I said I was going to take time out , but I had a change of heart , and my conclusion was this - to pause, however briefly, is to concede defeat, and that is not the point.

So I return to the fray, not exactly energised, but in the fray at least.

Someone once said that you lose 100% of the shots you don't take.

I can understand that .

Perhaps a little context is needed.

This blog actually started as a way of detailing my progress and efforts in the world of writing (with perhaps the occasional sidestep into my strange electronic dabblings).

I had it all worked out, and it seemed perfectly do-able.
that's also why early posts were concerned with publishing ventures and such.
As it turns out, I've decided not to detail the cut and thrust of my work -in- progress, because mechanical details of the writing process are dull - unless you're lucky enough to be a famous author, in which case people want every detail with a view to replicating your successful formula, or simply to worship at the altar of greatness.

I am neither a famous author, nor do I have an 'altar of greatness'.

However, this blog is a challenge even without the angst-laden missives from the 'ivory tower'.

Keeping things interesting is a challenge, in itself - although I find the 'stream of consciousness' thing works well for me .

Trouble is, now I'm writing about how to write.

Which I said I wouldn't - because, the truth is I don't know.

Infact, I'd go so far as to say that no-one knows, beyond certain accepted constants like spelling / punctuation, etc.

Unless of course, they invest in lots of 'How-To' manuals.

Don't get me wrong - there's a burgeoning market for self-help in the writing field.

'Writing Done Right' - actually that's not a real title, but hey - be my guest if you want to use it, just remember to credit Gordon at Invisible Words...

Infact, truth be told, if you invested in all of the practical writing aids available, you'd be dead before you could possibly read them all.

Like anything, writing is best learned on-the-fly.
In a zen style.
To learn by doing.
Ye gods, I'm full of it...

I don't advocate 'fake it 'til you make it' - I'm an old school believer in learning as much as you can about your chosen field, but hey - where there's a will, there's a way .

Back to my point - invisiblewordsonanendlessthread (one word, lower caps if you're Googling)* was begun for a specific reason.
However, my blog has assumed a life of its own and the frequency has leapt from once a month to weekly writings on a variety of subjects .

Except food.

Which is adequately catered for elsewhere (pun intended).

Although I could do food with a twist.

So how about this - humans have now grown and eaten lettuce in space.

 Romaine lettuce grown on the ISS          image © NASA

That's a first.

The pinkish glow in the image is due to the grow lights being red and blue. Although green is the most obvious colour choice, the maximum growth was obtained in the red/blue spectrum.
Good for radish and beets, then.

Apparently space-lettuce has a slightly spicey flavour, remniscent of (groan) rocket.
If nothing else, I imagine it's a pleasant change from vacuum-packed astronaut food, which to my limited understanding, only tastes like it's supposed to through the science of molecular gastronomy.

I only hope that lettuce - munching space caterpillars remain in their own cosmic eco-system.

Otherwise, the consequences on Earth could be devastating.

I've seen those old films.

'First Men In The Moon' 1964 ©u.k.

In other news...

The comet 67p/churyumov–gerasimenko reached its closest point to our sun on August 13th, and is now completing its orbit heading back to the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. 

It remains to be seen whether the errant lander Philae is still hanging on for dear life, hunkered down in a darkened precipice somewhere - certainly communication with mothership Rosetta has been sporadic to say the least.

In mid December 2015, Rosetta will end its cometary pursuit, perhaps with a soft-landing to become one with the comet and Philae, an almost touching end to the historic mission.

Science continues.

And what of the enigmatic Ceres, the largest body in the asteroid belt ?

It is supposedly being surveyed as we speak, with the Dawn explorer at its closest point of orbit to the surface .

The enduring mystery of the strange 'lights' in the cratered surface must surely now be resolved - along with the new strangeness, the four mile - high plateau in the middle of otherwise flat-land...

Watch that Space

The mysterious mound on Ceres     ©NASA/JPL/Caltech/UCLA

*of course, I realise that if you're reading this, then you don't need to Google the name, but that's how I roll, as they say #pointlessinstruction

Spaceship Graveyard

What happens to robot explorers when they die ?

There is no fabled final resting place like the elephants graveyard yet.

Curiosity landing site on Mars. 

Following the Pluto flypast which gave us a plethora of new information (still being assessed / downloaded),

New Horizons is now heading for the Kuiper belt, and with further funding,  possible analysis of another object - before it powers down , leaving us with a hunk of junk drifting in space, billions of miles away.

I personally hope that it continues for many years, but the truth is that we're lucky New Horizons didn't get struck already by space debris - and given the prevalence of random stuff in the Kuiper Belt, the odds are stacked against it.

Image taken from here:

Powered by Plutonium (ho-ho, almost funny), New Horizons is currently set to rendezvous either PT1 or PT3, (PT2 was eliminated).
The difference is that PT1 is smaller, but closer, therefore requiring less fuel, whereas PT3 is bigger but further away.
If the latter is chosen then the flyby is scheduled for 2019, at which point the fuel onboard should expire, and New Horizons will be freefloating.

Sadly for New Horizons, unlike the explorer Cassini, it will not be given a final blast of glory .

Cassini is currently tasked with photographing the moons of Saturn.

Cassini , should it last , will be repeatedly thrust through Saturns rings before plummeting down into its atmosphere at an incredible speed.,
A fiery send off in a blaze of glory, then.

Philae, the much beleagured lander on comet 67P may similarly go out in a blaze as the comet reaches its perihelion with our sun in August, erupting in a halo of ice and flame.

But New Horizons will just become smaller and smaller on the cosmic horizon, until, like Voyagers 1 and 2 before it, it's gone.

At this point, I should say that it qualifies as the first ever craft to approach Pluto system on a flypast, and its discoveries have been unrivalled.


And oh yes, I almost forgot - oops

There's also Curiosity, the Mars lander.
.
Still trundling around the hostile dust-bowl of the Martian surface, dutifully identifying different geological phenomena.

No spectacular ice flows or suchlike for Curiosity, no.

Just strata of quartz and such.

Curiositys progress.

Perhaps Curiosity is harbouring a robot dream of becoming a museum piece, when Mars is colonised.
And people will come to visit,
With their bored children in tow.

 There it will be, Curiosity, shiny and proud, if a little battered and worn.

Part of an exhibit showing the earliest unmanned pioneers of Mars.

Alongside Spirit, Opportunity, Sojourner and the wreckage of Beagle 2.

 Mars Rovers to scale...image from ExtremeTech.com

In fairness, quite a lot of wreckage, as Mars proved almost unassailable for many years.

But I digress.

Beneath that terraformed dome with its buzzing lights and hushed crowd,

I wonder whether anyone will wonder how things are,

back on Earth.

Earth from Mars.

20 Tips for The Inner Procrastinator

Sorry I'm late

I had writers block, you know.

Over this post, as though it mattered.

Procrastination.

Procrastination in action

A long word .

For me, the toughest thing when commencing a day in the (virtual) office is procrastination.

Of course, it doesn't come with a label.

That would be too obvious

It is far more insidious than that.

For me, it manifests as an urge to check in to social media.

Just to see how everyone is, and. you know, whether I missed anything important overnight, or maybe

the weather, in case it should take a turn for the worse today, or-

You get the idea.

I'm sure it's the same for many.

Temptation comes in a wide variety of flavours


I thought I could resist easily,

Having cast aside the vices of a lifetime.

Well, two of them.

 I used to say that people who gave up drinking and smoking didn't actually live longer ; it just feels like it.

Anyway, do I feel better for it ?

Well, yes and no.


Normally health benefits would be associated with giving up such vices.

But as I now fight a daily battle with an aggressive form of MS , I laugh at the irony.

Forgive me though - I have veered from the point.
No more talk of my aches and pains.
I'll save that for Farcebook:
or,you know, just stop whining.

In this age of online clickbait and eye-catching headlines designed to reel in the unwary,
the latterday fishers of men are the likes of  buzzfeed.
Not that they offer salvation , or anything useful really ;
their purpose is merely to trap the unwary in a turbulent sea of memes-
 a whirlpool which leads to the centre where all matter is vanquished and only clickbait prevails.

When I say fishers of men, I mean mankind as in men and women-
perhaps I should say humankind,
not to be chauvinistic or partaking in the patriarchal monologue
Or whatever politically correct distraction inflames the senses of the gentlefolk of t'interwebs these days.
I read somewhere that we live in the Age of Instant Outrage-

It seems to be the case that the merest hint of a cause to fight for galvanises the online masses.
And alongside an almost complete inability to check facts , we get witch hunts .

These days, I tend to find myself easily 'flipped' in the emotive sense.
Triggers abound.
Red rags to a bull, and all that.

Whether it's linked to my condition, I don't know.
Righteous indignation is almost a currency online -
it translates into clicks which results in revenue, or at the very least more readers and therefore more likes.

Inventory of  Everything

I was going to opine at length on the latest data from the New Horizons flyby of Pluto, but I disconsolately thought 'so what?'
The off - hand dismissal worthy of a sullen teen.

Earlier, I found myself online, berating someone for writing a piece which was horribly obtuse and wilfully pretentious.
Then I looked in the mirror.

Ahem

Then I wondered whether to write about attempts to outlaw the use of links.

In the end, I decided not to do anything.

Procrastination.

Which is where I came in.

P.S. I am sorry that there are no actual tips to aid with procrastination, for which I apologise. It just seemed an appropriate title.
P.P.S. Just Do It ?
P.P.P.S. No, I think that's a patented slogan. Oh well.

Invisible Wars

Today I came across a website that allows you to witness ddos attacks in real time,on a global scale .
It's the closest you'll get to WW3 on your computer/laptop/mobile.
Link here.
Marvel at the fact that this invisible war is being waged every second of every day.

It reminds me of an old computer game (Missile Command )

Missile_Command_flyer.jpg CC use

At the point where I began watching, it was mostly China versus the USA, but pretty much every nation gets a look in-
Which is nice.
Inclusivity and all that.

Cyber-warfare is an inevitable result of the global internet, human nature being what it is.

In some nations, access to the internet is restricted or even forbidden and replaced with state approved infranet alternatives.
Many DDOS attacks are attempts to circumvent official channels for political reasons, or just to torrent freebie films etc.
The internet has given us an electronic Wild West:
A lawless, invisible  electronic layer that crosses national and international boundaries.
Not just physically, but mentally too, with its continued challenges to the status quo, and the seemingly endless redefinition of ownership, be it copyright , intellectual property etc.

Just by writing this rant, I am participating.
In a small way.
And so are you !
Perhaps more than you imagine, if you use any form of social media.
Interactions with social media illustrate similar principles in action , albeit on a lesser scale.

The primary aim of much social media seems to be the triggering of emotions.
Mostly anger and outrage.
Perceived injustices and so on.
Endless sympathy - inducing  images of  (insert the thing you most often react to), coupled with the empty assertion that Farcebook likes equal life saving surgery, is the way these things tend to go on the personal level.
Combine this with the unspoken hint that failure to comply makes YOU a BAD person , and - bingo!
Instant inferiority complex or self-doubt -
- but wait ! We have a cure for that , yes indeedy !
 What Action Film Star Are You Most Like , just answer these 20 questions...

...because people love to feel better about themselves.

Who needs therapy when there's clickbait on farcebook ?

Image by me so nyarr. 

Of course, it may be the case that you are stronger than that, with no Facebock/ Twitter/ Snapchat etc - in which case, well done you !


I wonder if there will be intervention groups one day, for people reduced to anxious wrecks by social media.

The Twelve Step Plan for Online Anonymous

Step away from the computer.
And your phone.
And TV

Hear that silence ?