NETWORKING NOTES

Merriam Webster:

Main Entry: net·work·ing Function: noun Date: 1967

1 : the exchange of information or services among individuals, groups, or institutions; specifically : the cultivation of productive relationships for employment or business
2 : the establishment or use of a computer network

Social networking has traditionally been done before technology was invented to speed the process.  As a child, I know it, retrospectively, as 'visiting' to places I needed to walk or talking on the telephone.  Passing notes in class was another, if the teacher didn't catch you and embarrass you by reading the note to the class..  Later, much later, since I am now what I call a senior-senior, there are so many ways to network it makes me want to turn the clock back to when life was simple however short-lived.that desire.   First came 'chat' on the computer, then cheap phones like SKYPE, easy to do fax on the computer or separate units, mobile phones to cell, then text was added, web pages, blogs, My Space, Facebook, and then the dams burst.   There are so many ways to stay in touch with more people than you ever knew had touched your life or cared what has happened to you..  In fact, it is quite difficult to hide, for those trying to do so.  

Google will track everyone down.  We apparently appear on the marketing networks as they infiltrate our computers with those little programs they drop on us to spy.at what we view, what we buy, and I can only guess at what they see through the portholes of my computer.  It makes the saying "My life is an open book" a truism.  .

Those of us who have always thought of ourselves as social, may be having second thoughts.  I, for one, find myself feeling somewhat anti-social at some of the intrusions.. You may think I am complaining about the contacts by my 'friends'.  Not at all. On Facebook I can choose them to be friends, leave chat rooms when people come on for whom I care little, screen my phone calls, (should I choose, aided by caller ID), or even yank phones from their connections though that is time consuming since I have 9 phones (extensions or remote included) scattered around the house and rarely turn on my cell (#10) which I prefer more for emergencies or calls of my own making.and never turn on at home.

What then and I whining about, you might ask. It is the learning curve that only those under 10 years of age can master quickly; who find these things intuitive and don't spend hours as I do trying to understand  manuals.  The second reason is that everyone I know seems to have more expendable time than I do.  I really find that I am not interested in knowing that 30 seconds ago a friend was planning to cook their supper.  I realize that is small of me but, at my age, I think I have limited brain storage space for trivia and fear crowding out the stuff I really wish to remember.  The only good thing about all this is that what I have written is the worst of my current problems.  Despite fearing the world is trying to use up the rest of my life, I've really got it good.  However, having it good does not mean that there is a paucity of things to complain about...I'm told to keep my brain active.  This works.

ICELANDIC ASH MAKES COMMERCIAL FLIGHT DANGEROUS

Yesterday I wrote about Nature being particularly erratic in the way the disasters are falling.  Today the N.Y. Times sheds some views on the 'collateral damage' of some of these disasters.  After a few years, volcanic ash seems to be the subsoil for all the seeds and other things that grow spread by birds and animals.  So in a few years the area will no longer like the inside of your fireplace.  

However, today, the day after a significant eruption, the picture at the right gives you a hint as to what rises to the atmosphere and gets carried by winds in whatever direction they choose to take it.  At the moment, the ash is high in the sky above the UK and Europe.  Planes have been wisely grounded until it is deemed safe again.  Naturally this is a crushing blow to many businesses, let alone other travelers.  Whether it is travel to conduct business, or conducting business by arranging travel, much money will be lost.  Click here for the Times article.

All UK air traffic has been stopped all day Friday and will probably be another day, as well.  It is extremely dangerous to fly through these clouds as the grit in them will burn an engine out too quickly.

NATURE IS GIVING AN ASSIST TO MANKIND'S ATTEMPT TO RUSH ARMAGEDDON

Apparently humans aren't doing themselves in fast enough so Nature is stepping up the process.

Scores killed by storm in India At least 89 people have been killed in eastern India after a powerful storm demolished tens of thousands of homes and uprooted trees. Local authorities said on Wednesday that hundreds of people had suffered injuries and up to 100,000 mud hut homes were destroyed by the storm in the state of West Bengal.  For more on the story, click here. But Nature didn't stop here today.  China sifts rubble for survivors of the deadly Qinghai earthquake as thousands spend a cold night in the open. To read details about this, click here But deep in earth's belly, Nature is rumbling...we know not why.  Perhaps she is retching, watching what Mankind is doing to her and deciding that she will speed up the death of the world. Iceland has a volcano erupting.  To watch a video, click here. Landslides cut off Brazil statue Rio de Janeiro's towering Christ the Redeemer statue is closed after heavy floods in Brazil that have killed around 250 people.    Chile wasn't faring well, either, with more earth quaking after  the earlier worse devastation. just as we are still trying to cope with aid to Haiti.

AMERICAN AMBIENCE ABOUT TO BURST INTO FLAMES

Not in my long lifetime in the US have I heard so much open talk about militias arming against our government, supported openly by politicians and state governments.  There is more inflammatory rhetoric than I ever recall before. Read about Oklahoma's Governor Blogdon  here. We have, and always will have, open disagreement on politics, direction, laws, and even interpretation of the Constitution.  It is acceptable to rev up an interest in the history of the Civil War, it is less acceptable to fly the Confederate flag or for Virginia's Gov. Bob McDonnell’s to proclame naming April as “Confederate History Month”  without  mentioning slavery. For more on this, click here.

The Japanese, Germans, and Chinese show themselves as better losers after World War 2 than our South below the Mason Dixon line, which is still fanning the flames of outrage and call for revenge for the loss of the Civil War.  How many generations will it take for people still carrying the torch for something that the world saw as unacceptable (slavery of humans)?

There are groups out there at present who are fighting everything the United States, in majority, stands for and their voices are making the rest of us sound as though we are whispering.  As I have written before, our biggest threat now is domestic terrorism.  What do we plan to do about it?

NUCLEAR BOMB THREAT IN THE 50s and 2010

The news has been covering the concern over terrorists getting nuclear bomb capability.  Recalling the threat of Russia in the early 50s, (Yes, I clearly remember the anxiety and fear that we all lived with then), I see history repeating itself....just a different cast of characters.  The theme even got incorporated in the movies of the day, though I was not interested in viewing  them.

If you ever wondered what a 'sitting duck' felt like, just think that someone who hates you has a tool to kill you, all the people in your city, and even more.  Scary thought, right?  The major accompanying memory is the utter helplessness one feels thinking about what someone can do to cause you a painful death and you are completely unprepared and without warning as to when the bomb may fall.  Then, it was Russia we feared.  Today, it is not even a group with which we can negotiate....we're shadow boxing.

While hysteria is being stirred up by the media outlets, one wonders whether our missile defense system is capable of protecting us, assuming someone figures out how to make the bomb from a manual off of YouTube or something similar.  We Americans fear the threat as well as many other countries who could also be targeted.  England fears that it will be most vulnerable via a small boat on the Thames as a means of carrying a bomb upstream.  It is this fear that can make everyone unable to focus on the future and settle on a white knuckled present.  For more detail, click here.

One has to imagine how crippling the fear can become and how it stifles people's ability to feel safe and normal..  Little energy remains for creativity and future orientation.  Some people, like the Londoners after the train bombings, can put the fear out of their minds and go back on the trains and about their business, while others are numbed into inaction by their fears of that over which they have no control.

SPORTS ON TV IS LESS AGGRAVATING THAN POLITICAL MEDIA

Having always preferred being a participant rather than a spectator, TV sports have not been my first choice for entertainment.  However, many things have effected a change in that view.  I'm not as physically energetic as I was thirty or forty years ago.  It is nice to keep part of my mind occupied while I am doing an otherwise  mindless task sitting down.  For years I have watched news channels and political talk shows. 

When I begin to not choose playing the piano to relax, it finally dawned that it is because the piano has gotten somewhat out of tune and is not pleasant to me.  Similarly, the media has also gone out of tune.  Instead of finding news about what is happening, we are fed opinions from biased people who pretend to have some authority to predict our economic and political future.  It feels as my piano does when it is out of tune so I turn to the Discovery Channel, National Geographic, or play around with some of the PBS channels. While I don't follow all of any sport, I tend to get hung up on the Baseball Playoffs, the Superbowl, the Masters and other tournaments for golf, though I really can't say that tennis, hockey and soccer have grabbed me yet.  However, I realize that watching athletes who have mastered their sport, surgeons who have mastered their operations, even cooks who have become skilled at food preparation and many blue collar pros doing their electrical work, plumbing, carpentry or whatever, is far more entertaining and educational than the 'balanced' panels that have people like  and too many others who make me cringe and channel surf.

If I believed that most published polls are accurate, I would try to find out the changes others have made in their video viewing.  Even the sitcoms have gone so commercial and politically correct.  I long for the energy that was raised when Normal Lear tackled sensitive subjects in the most tasteful ways.with shows like Maude or Archie Bunker (was that All in the Family?) 

WHERE DID WE LOSE OUR PRIORITIES?

Every once in a while, some facts come out about where government money goes and it makes us face how this country has allowed priorities to shift through inequities and greed.  On 4-10-10, Les Leopold on AlterNet wrote an aricle which is more easily understood directly than read in summary by someone other than the writer.  You can read it here.

When a country such as ours, which has for so long put children as a lesser priority than greed and wealth for corporate vultures, we have raised a generation with too low a percentage of educated, productive professionals and potential leaders.  I'm not much of a blamer unless it is that the source of elements responsible can be defined and the situation changed.  Dwelling in the past as to what could have or should have been done is a waste of energy. 

The main reason I find it difficult to give credence to the Republicans when they say they are the party of ideas, is that they went through much of the Clinton years overly involved with Clinton's sexual activities rather than spending time on the problems of the nation.  Today, they are still blocking as much progress as they can while they try to waste money on changing the face on the $50 bill and, like McCain declared, being such sore losers as to decide not to vote yes on any Bill for the rest of the year.  Before a candidate for the Supreme Court has even been announced, Republicans are already threatening to boycott the candidate while claiming it is not a political move.

I'm still waiting for more intelligent and knowledgeable people to raise a hew and cry to at least equal the volume of the teabaggers, Rush Limbaughs, and Fox News among others who pollute the media with hate and dire predictions if they don't get there way and retain the status quo for the poor to get poorer and the rich to get richer.  When that will stop escapes me but I keep searching for signs that strengthening voices for fairness and rights for all people is slowly being heard..  It is still at the speed of grass growing or paint drying, but forward motion is gaining.