communication = relationship

The relationships that we have with one another are based solely on our interactions with each other. These interactions can be made in a variety of ways including in person, on the telephone or through the internet. Other methods could include body language and our everyday actions (or inactions). This is all in the name of trying to communicate with and understand each other. These are easy words to type but it is quite a difficult discipline to master.

Writing a blog is another form of communication and interaction. Except it is no longer one to one, but it is or strives to be one to many or ultimately, many to many. But it is sometimes the case that people misunderstand one another because of entries posted and comments left. This can often be resolved by leaving more comments and thus more communication. There are many advantages that technology can provide us but more opportunity for failure. The avantages of creating and maintaining meaningful relationships, regardless of location far outweigh any disadvantages in my opinion. Blogs are sometimes difficult to create, but I am thankful that the opportunity is there.

asian differences

I am proud to be born Canadian and of Japanese ancestry. My family has been in Canada for about 80 years over 4 generations. Although I am third generation, I can speak conversational Japanese fluently and can read a little and write even less. I have only visited Japan 3 times but am really interested (somewhat knowledgeable) in Japanese culture and society as it is part of my proud heritage.

I am truly disturbed by and I do not understand the methods used by the Chinese people and government with regards to their relationship with Japan. As long as Chinese history is and as many Chinese people there are, it appears that they, as a society still have not learned to deal with other people and culture with tolerance. Their anger and hate runs deep and it scares me. I do not pretend to know how the Chinese feel because, as I stated before, I don't know. However, taken in context, they are not alone. Sadly, there have been other similar incidents that they could use to guide their actions (eg. the Jewish & Nazi Germany) and yet they want to travel down a different, more disruptive & violent path. It is apparent to me that the Japanese people have seen enough blood spilt in wars (their own and others') to want to not see any more spilt (their own and others') for the rest of eternity. Bottom line: it's history so learn from it.

microsoft windows(tm) onecare

Microsoft has announced that it will begin testing their anti-everything product/service that protects users from viruses & spyware, has a new firewall and tune-up tools as well as other services. Now correct me if I'm wrong but, didn't Microsoft create the problem that they are only now trying to fix? Had Windows been a safe, secure and stable environment for general computing, would we have had to install all of these third party programs that "fix" or prevent the problems that Microsoft "unwittingly" programmed into their software? Would Microsoft even have to spend time and money on this if it had made Windows correctly in the first place? And why is the buck passed down to the consumer when the problem originates from Microsoft itself??

Ok, I have programmed before and I do understand that programming an operating system or environment is a huge undertaking and requires thousands of man hours plus all of the testing that is required. But the commercial software industry seems to be all backwards, selling products that are not even close to bug free and then expecting us to pay for support. I refuse to pay extra for something that I should be getting when I buy the original product, especially when I am investing hundreds of dollars in it.

Why can't it be tested thoroughly enough before being released into the general public as a consumer product? It all reeks of internal corporate pressure to reap profits as quickly as possible at the consumers' expense. The irony of it is that they make even more money by resolving bug issues after the fact and consumers are duped into paying extra for something that they should've had in the first place. The solution is an open source model.

Why there are virtually no viruses, spyware or other malicious threats that we hear of on MAC or LINUX machines??

news?

While watching the Montel Williams Show yesterday morning, the program was interrupted by a "News Bulletin" about a low flying, single engine plane near restricted airspace around DC. Just as Sylvia Browne was about to say something interesting, we are abruptly taken away by an old CBS news anchor who vaguely knows what is going on. He then talks to a reporter & crew on the scene who can only echo the vague details that the anchor had just given us. Kind of dismayed that I missed something that I was actually interested in and resigned to the fact that I might have to watch this play out, I changed the channel to CNN where I got filled in with proper, detailed information. Good news! A "possible threat" to national security had been averted.

Why didn't CBS just put a "ticker" type news update while still showing the original program until something conclusive could be offered? If I were interested in the news as they gave it, I would seek out more detailed information, like change the channel to CNN (like I did anyway) or go online. A ticker would have given me the exact information that the anchor and reporter imparted with minimal interruption of the original program that I wanted to watch.

Anyway, I've been noticing that it's been slow for news these days. Perhaps this is a good thing as most news is invariably bad news. I guess it really was a wise person who said, "No news is good news."

raison d'etre

This is the first of many entries that I hope will open your eyes and free your mind. The concept I have for this blog is probably similar to a lot of other bloggers out there. I will write about things that a lot of people are writing and talking about because I get upset reading the editorial page every morning. People either do not have the correct information or are too short sighted and their comments make them look very ignorant or just plain stupid. Then there are people who actually have something else to say. Here, I get my chance to voice my opinions and my ideas. And here, you will get a chance to tell me how wrong, ignorant and stupid you think I am (of course, you will have the brain power to tell me why I am wrong and your alternative) or agree with me. Intelligence, wit & flattery will get you everywhere.