Category: writing

Featured Post

Noise

Red Pill or Blue?

The media is currently either throwing a tantrum or engaged in a celebration over the former president’s arraignment.

If you are like me and are focused on living in ‘your world’ and not in ‘this world of corruption, violence, and craziness, ’ you must find a way to detach.

I lead a writer’s group in my hometown. I was asked why I write. The answer is simple. I like my world and characters more than those who seek to control us through emotional triggers and corrupt media who will print or say anything for clicks.

Journalism is dead and buried. Whoever owns the most media controls the world.

I was disappointed when Stephen King weighed into the fray, tweeting, ‘Lock him up.’

Does Stephen have privileged information that we don’t have? Is he friends with the DA? Maybe he lives in the white house and tells Biden what to say. That would explain the twisted way the country is currently being run.

As authors, the public, ‘our audience’ shouldn’t know which way we lean politically. They should be totally clueless if we are pro-life or pro-choice.

They should know what kinds of stories you create, what you have done in the past, and your current WIP.

I cringe when I see want-to-be best sellers go off the deep end, regurgitating the talking points of the left or right-wing media.

It matters not who you vote for or which way you tilt. You should know that what you believe to be true is probably not the entire story. The media is incredibly Stalinist, and today’s youth think socialism can work if you just do it correctly. That is akin to being ‘kind of pregnant.’ They either didn’t study history, or it wasn’t taught.

You have heard the phrase to live or die by the sword…Well, my friends, the media lives or dies by the lies they create.

I will get more clicks if I add the word black or white to describe a person. I will do it. Pissing people off is the way to get more readers. Pissing people off also foments racism and violence by dehumanizing an entire race for what; clicks? Who cares if someone gets hurt or is pushed in front of a subway because they are a different color? You got more clicks! People are irresponsible when it comes to the media.

I genuinely believe we are living in the matrix.

Six people are killed in Tennessee. The president jokes about Jenny’s chocolate chip Ice Cream before giving a predictable speech about gun control. Others pray for the trans person and not the people she killed. OMG, I misgendered the murderer! Who cares! Three nine-year-old children were shot to death, and three 61-year-old people were also killed. What the hell is wrong with people worried about the shooter’s pronouns?

Be respectable, and I will respect your right to identify as a toaster if you are an adult and that is what you want to do. Be an asshole like that, turd, nope. Not going to dignify her in any way. She can rot in hell.

The answers to violence in the world are painfully obvious, but…the lobbyist purchased the elected officials to lie to you and me. From the NRA to the teacher’s unions to the gaming industry, it’s about money. Money and power trump the taxpayers every time.

Mental health is the problem!

If you are young and seeking a vocation, become a mental health expert. The world, not just this country but the world, is in crisis. I totally believe that video games are the gateway to insanity. That and mind-altering drugs.

Hollywood is not excused; they are culpable too.

Those with the loudest voices live in gated communities and have never entered a Walmart. Tell me, how much $16 a pint of ice cream is in your freezer?

I don’t listen to opinion shows. Again, they don’t live in our world.

I live in our world but can escape, and so can you.

While I create the worlds, the characters, and the situations, you can come into my world by reading my latest novel ‘Earth’s Last Hope.’

Everything you would ever want in a novel, from aliens, affairs, sex with the president, and I destroy this world before I give you a happy ending. Each page is rich with the story, so don’t skip to the end; it won’t make sense. Start at the beginning and simply enjoy it.

Don’t start it late, or you will be up all night. You will love the character as the pages turn, and the science fiction is not hard science fiction.

Trigger Warning: If two ladies loving each other bothers you, this story might not be for you.

-Best

Give it a review! Reviews are critical to the process of success for authors. My e-mail address is in the book so, write to me if you have any comments.

Featured Post

Who is your audience?

At some point, the discovery writer (pantster) must decide who their audience is?

Plotters have the advantage of planning to create a story for a group of people.

For instance, if I were to write a picture book, my audience would be young children.

If I were to write a romance, ladies would be the audience. Sure, some men also appreciate Hallmark-type stories.

As an example, I wrote a story called Jupiter’s Song. I targeted science fiction buffs, however… It is really a coming-of-age story that belongs on the Hallmark Channel. Almost any ‘nerd’ will commiserate with Ralph.

A young child (nerd) finds that his interest in science puts him at odds with society. That makes him a target of bullies. How Ralph navigates the social world of ‘humanity’ is the focus of this short story which is available in our writer’s group anthology on my amazon author site.

https://www.amazon.com/stores/Scott-Taylor/author/B0BQCX3SRH

Marketing your book is critical to the process.

From the inception of your idea, an author needs to remember who their audience is. Most YA is written in the first person.

Many subject matter experts (SMEs) tend to put what they know in their stories.

One writer I know wrote a novel where they put tons of information on bicycles in the narrative. The story has nothing to do with that subject other than one of the characters rides one as a hobby. Does it move the story along? Is technical information on different types a distraction? Does it help or hurt the story? Do we care about the brand and the specifics of the brand when it adds zero value to the story? The focus of the book is aliens.

No, that is where a content editor is worth what you pay for. Whoever they used failed at their job.

‘Predators and editors’ is another topic I will cover in the future.

Another author is an SME on guns. What they ‘show off’ in their narrative has nothing to do with the story, plot, or what will happen. Those are just two examples of what not to do.

I don’t think we can pinpoint who coined the phrase ‘Kill Your Darlings,’ but they are correct.

In the movie industry, there is something called the cutting room floor. What ends up there are parts of the movie that don’t move the show along. Killing your darlings are things that the author loves but either detract from the plot or don’t move the story along.

Earth’s Last Hope is a science fiction fantasy with a strong female lead.

Romantic involvement as the subplot introduces the reader to the protagonist. Advanced writers will recognize the negative arc before it turns positive. There is no muddy middle, and I would start this book early in the day, so you are not up all night.

As a side note, I completely destroy the Earth, kill off 8 billion people, and we have a happy ending. In fact, you will love the finish. Don’t spoil it by attempting to read the ending first, as you won’t get it.

Read it one page at a time, and just enjoy it.

From that description, who is my audience?

I will give you a hint. It is written for today. 2023

In our anthology, I have a story called The Star People. ‘The Star People’ is the introduction to Dr. S. Richards. The negative arc comes from her brokenness from her dysfunctional family life as a child. The story in the anthology is a PG version of those chapters in Earth’s Last Hope.

If you are a writer, author, or want-to-be, I am the Carrollton League of Writers Executive Director. We meet in person and on Zoom.

After the pandemic, we decided to keep Zoom. Streaming services such as Zoom allow us to reach speakers, authors, and other creative types from around the globe.

If you want to speak with our group, please drop me an e-mail.

Frequently we have authors join us to talk about their work, how they got there, and so on.

I had a thought as I was closing this blog. Isn’t it odd that the UFO they shot down in Roswell in 1947 was later claimed to be a balloon? Where is that guy with the wild hair that screams Aliens? It seems we have a history with UFOs and balloons.

Staylor823@gmail.com

-Best

Scott Taylor

Featured Post

Are We From Mars?

Are we mistaking climate change for evolution?

Stay tuned and be forewarned, I am a SciFi Author, and I think way outside the box.

I have studied Climate Change to some degree for years now. The first thing one must do is take politics out of the equation. Politics equals power and money. Corruption goes hand in hand with power plays, so one must remove the bias injected into the equation by discounting those with anything to gain.

When Greta came on the scene, the science she was parroting was faulty. You can make the graph say anything you want when you overlay data from different data sets. Hence the infamous hockey stick.

Politicians attempt to use harmful sound bites to steer the conversation, as people will more than likely click the headline that predicts the end of the world.

For the following few paragraphs, I want you to take a deep breath, sit back, and relax. I want you to clear your mind of the bullshit that has been spoon-fed to the world.

Again, I am a science fiction author. I think well outside the lines that those who educate us would like us to color in. I am not that person; I color outside the lines. I try to be the most argumentative person on the block if I think you’re wrong. Someone must stand up to the robots who want us all as slaves. I am that person.

There are solutions to the world’s difficulties that we may not look at because those resolutions are not inside the box. Those who own the media are controlled by oligarchs. Those people who got rich from screwing the little people. People like you and I, they want us to be smart enough to be useful idiots. When you are too old or damaged to be helpful, like a broken tool, they toss you in the dustbin. In this case, the dustbin is the end of the line in a disease-infested nursing home run by people who treat you like trash.

In my latest novel, Earth’s Last Hope, I weave into the tapestry of my story some primary hypotheses with fiction. The story is not heavy science and is more about us today and where we are headed if we don’t turn this ship around. To be clear, there are aliens, lusty ladies, space travel, Area 51, Roswell, and forbidden love. Before the main character’s arc goes positive, we live in the head of a person who is broken by her father and life.

You will love the main character and be impressed with the supporting cast.

There are many characters. Each plays an integral part in the story. As I wrote the book, I made notes of who was who, and for your enjoyment, I included that list of names. I know them each by heart. You might like to reference the ‘manifest’ in the back.

Many surprises, twists, and turns will keep you turning the pages.

If you want to know where the Earth is headed, look at Mars. If you have the ear of that climate change Greta person, tip her to this novel. Even she would like it.

What???

Yes, my friends, I have a pretty good idea based on a hypothesis that this planet will eventually go the way of Mars.

Someone will read my book or this blog, take the ideas, and claim them for themselves.

I can guarantee that plagiarism, theft of ideas, and so forth are rampant on the internet.

I have had novels stolen, translated into different languages, posted in other countries, and sold. I don’t make money. Someone else does.

I am going to address climate change…I will also tell you why this planet has headed the way of Mars.

Are you ready?

Are we going to be flooded by rising oceans?

Is the weather more intense because your grandfather drives a hummer?

No… We are in much more danger of humanity being snuffed out by lunatics who think you can win a war with Nukes. …

Again…look to Mars… Mars was once a blue planet. How can that be?

Are you scratching your head yet?

Do you want to know how that can be?

Here is a hint, if you want to know the future of Venus, look at the Earth.

If you have read this far and are intrigued, you could do me a solid and buy my book. I get a small cup of coffee for every book sold. Bezos makes the bulk of the money. With enough coffee, I can keep thinking outside the proverbial rectangle.

As a side note, Greta just released her latest book on climate change after talking to experts.

The mature adult Greta just got into a pissing contest with Andrew Tate. Pffft. I wonder why there are nukes in the world; I just can’t figure it out. SMH

The media will make Greta rich by hyping spooky stories about the sky falling. Her biased opinion invalidates any science she purports to consider relevant. They will make her rich because they like to push negative stories like Climate change to control the narrative. Chicken Little and Greta have lots in common. Too bad she never read the children’s book. Had she studied science from an unbiased source, not the IPCC, she might have tempered her scowl.

I think you will find my work of fiction much more entertaining than hers. Scientists will probably find my theories closer to the facts than charts and graphs based on screwed-up data.

We lose 90 tons of atmosphere every day thanks to the cosmic wind. That atmosphere contains thousands of gallons of water. Could the droughts, dried-up rivers, and even our Grand Canyon that look like the canals on Mars be signs of things to come? Could those spires of land poking out of lakes and different oceans be a precursor to the fact that we are losing water and not going to have sea level rise?

Do you really believe the White Cliffs of Dover rose from the depths of the abyss? Do you really think that the Grand Canyon pushed up from somewhere below?

Read my novel.

-Best

Scott

Earth’s Last Hope and/or The Hills We Climb

Featured Post

Insanity Run Amuck

A sudden rush of noise distracted me from being careful of the truck ahead of me, which seemed to have trouble staying in one lane. As his tires crept over one white line and then over the other, clearly, the driver was not paying careful attention to what he was doing. Perhaps this truck was not updated with the safety devices, or the driver didn’t care.

The noise, however, was not from the truck. It was from not one, not two, but three sports cars weaving in and out of vehicles on the busy freeway.

Two were Dodge Chargers, and the other was a Ford Mustang.

Traffic was moving at the posted speed. These folks passed us like we were not moving.

The last of the three, a charger, came inches from my back bumper. Had it collided with me at that speed, the formula F=M*A would have applied.

It would have been like a ‘pit maneuver’ at highway speeds.

Folks, this was at 17:05 hours last Friday, the 18th of November, on Westbound GBT.

Since this was on the tollway, is there a way to check which vehicles were on the tollway? I bet there is.

I won’t state the obvious of how utterly stupid this action is. People go to events where fast cars are involved to see the wrecks. Much like boxing, it is a sick sport. That is my opinion.

I live over a mile from major highways. However, I can still hear the Ninja bikes and other loud cars occasionally on those highways. I listen to them as they put the proverbial pedal to the metal.

There must be a way to track these drivers after the fact. There will be some who defend their actions, although they are indefensible. If the death of your loved one was caused by their stupidity, you would not even think to protect them.

Think of the attorney seeking to defend such a deviant’s actions. How can they sleep at night?

Possibly I am oversensitive because an intoxicated driver almost killed me. A head-on collision at highway speeds changed my life forever. Over thirty years later, every movement is a reminder of that day. Whenever I get behind the wheel, PTSD reminds me of how tenuous life is. It is a struggle to leave the house and get on the road because of the actions of one inconsiderate SOB.

As we head into this Holiday season, I implore you to think before you decide to drive while under the influence. The life you save might be your own.

Even after the fact, I would encourage the traffic enforcement folks to go after stupid people like that. I am not interested in speeding per se but in reckless driving, including speeds far exceeding rated maximums.

As you travel this holiday season, be on the alert for stupid people. Statistically, there are safer times of the day and the week to travel.

Early in the morning (after sunrise) until noon is relatively safe. From noon to first light the following day, rates of accident increase logarithmically, tapering off the closer you get to morning.

Rush hour most any weekday, sees a higher number of car crashes. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are much higher in incidents of accidents than Monday through Thursday.

We can apply a little common sense to this equation and determine the source of the rise in accidents. They are lower when people are expected to be working or will need to return to work than on other days of the week. Holidays are worse for that very reason.

I wonder if we could sue the liquor industry like other idiots are attempting to sue gun manufacturers. It’s obviously the booze causing the problem, right?

-Best

Featured Post

Customer Service 101

Your response should be crafted.

‘Recently, I took my car in for normal maintenance. Driving away from the shop, leaving from a red light, the engine stalled or hesitated. Calling the shop, their response was, “Those cars have Gremlins.”’

Even though they were obligated under warranty to fix it, I lost confidence in them immediately.

Finding another shop, I elected to pay them to fix whatever was wrong. Citing a potential catalytic converter issue, I reminded them of when the problem first occurred and then let them do their diagnostics.

The fault did not generate a check engine light. The lack of a ‘fault’ made the problem tougher to troubleshoot. If you have ever tinkered with old cars, the issue resembled a vacuum leak.

Finding a tear in a hose leading to the Mass Airflow Sensor cured the problem.

The ‘gremlin’ was the mechanic who did the original work and did not check to make sure his ‘cure’ did not introduce more problems.

While I am out a few hundred more dollars to another shop, finding an honest mechanic is worth it.

From plumbers to electricians and yes, computer professionals, it is OK to say ‘I don’t know.’

Customers would much rather hear you say ‘allow me to figure it out,’ vs. your (insert issue) has gremlins.

The original shop has lost me as a customer because the mechanic did not check their work and Gremlins.

No matter who you work for or what you do, you have customers. Identify them and treat them as you would want to be treated. Watch what you say.

-Best

Featured Post

What If?

Every day someone finds something. This day was no exception. The more creative the attack the more interesting the day. If you call that number they try to get you to give them $199.00 to unlock your computer.

You can send me some money if you like but, here is the fix for this…

CTL ALT DEL , task manager, kill the process, aka browser and then do not restore the page when you reload the browser.

I am not affiliated with CCleaner but I sell a heck of a lot of it for them. Install it and let it clean your browser after every use. $25 a year and damn well worth it!

As one might use an explicative to emphasize a point, I often use a somewhat tawdry analogy for this purpose. Surfing the web with inadequate anti-virus software is like “hooking up with a stranger” without using protection. Not only is it idiotic, but dangerous!

Having been in Data Processing, or the IT business since before Steve Jobs or Bill Gates was a household name, I know a thing or two. The scars on my back are from arrows taken in the trenches of digital mayhem. This bedlam was caused by such things as bosses wanting to be on the bleeding edge, to software not ready for prime time, been there done that.

Free antivirus software is not worth what you pay for it!

The best security software is going to have a price or cost to it. Why? It takes many engineers, coders, and much research to create and maintain a massive program like anti-virus software. Who is going to do that for free? More importantly, why?

While someone might write an app for free, to get their name out there; anti-virus software takes a village.

Much like hiring someone to sell your home, you don’t hire someone who does it part-time or as a hobby. If you want to get something done, give it to a busy person. If you want to sell your home, hire someone who’s lively hood depends upon them being successful. You want a secure computer, hire or purchase the product with the most to lose if it fails.

There is much more to the process of considering which product to purchase but, free is not a reason. I would argue that free is a cause to eliminate that choice.

The reality is that the internet has become the wild west. The bullet that finds you can come from almost anywhere. Every company that uses computers should have a security officer. His or her job should be to focus their attention on threats out there and the best way to keep them from affecting that company.

I find it surprising that politicians are screaming about Russian hacking of our computers. What the hell do you expect? You just assume that someone with a certification gives a damn!?

What worked in 1982 does not work now. Having a “PC Wizard, or your grandchildren” working for you is tantamount to a trapeze act, blindfolded and working without a net. Insurance companies and credit card companies are now aware of this and demanding your strategies to be secure in the world of cyber threats. They should audit you, and they should hire folks like me who know what to look for.

White Hat hacking allows us an inside look at what one might expect. We learn many ways to infiltrate a company. The same applies to the TSA in homeland security. While I would probably choose a job to be that guy that test the security systems of the homeland, airports and such, it is much easier to check companies.

The first thing I must do is understand you. More importantly, know that entity many of us in the biz call “users.”

Too many infiltrations are accomplished with something called click bait. “Ten pictures that should never have been made public…” With half a picture of some scantily clad woman visible, how many will click?

Human nature dictates men will want to see what the camera saw. “Boom, you’re infected.”

Good antivirus software will stop any activity created by software manipulation but, the caveat or keyword there is “good.” What if you bought the bargain basement software or just used the free stuff?

For the coders to write the fix, someone must fall prey to it, report it, and then they must institute a fix. That is why Software of this type is never static. Updates are consistent and often. New threats are released hourly. To run a company dedicated to this is no small task.

Maybe you own a plant which produces widgets. Your widgets are better than others, and your competition wants the skinny. You hired someone like me for your IT manager or CIO so they cannot get in through your firewalls. Your safe, or so you think. Industrial espionage is rife in the competitive world of gadgets and widgets. If I want in bad enough, I will contract one of my guys to write a program that will hide on a computer until certain key phrases are typed, and then it will activate.

“Wait, you said my firewall is secure, Fort Knox secure!”

“Why yes I did, so I am going to place this little program on a thumb drive and…I am going to put some naughty pictures on it with some commercial looking writing on the outside of the device to make the person who picks it up from the parking lot where I dropped it, think that they have something juicy.”

Possibly just tossing a thumb drive out the window of my car near the parking lot with a few files on it, and the Trojan would be enough to get me into your network. I will purchase some chrome colored or fancy looking thumb drive to be sure that it is spotted. I will know when the landscape folks work, so I make sure and plant it after they have done their thing so that one of your employees will find it.

Maybe I send one of my spies out to places that your guys eat and leave the drive on the table by the ashtray or the salt and pepper shaker at the table they eat every week on a given day and time.

Possibly I get one of my people inside your company, hired by you. They install some remotely controlled program like Team Viewer on their PC and Viola; you are hacked.

Because your IT guy is so sure that his firewall is good enough, or your engineers are so demanding that he left the USB ports open for use by them, with lax policies he leaves your company vulnerable too.

How do we stop the threats?

One way we do this is with training. Every employee should sit through CE training on the essential use of the corporate computers. This is information that they can bring home and share. Education is by far the best tool one can have in their arsenal.

All of the policies are trumpeted for them to hear and before they leave they sign a document saying they will adhere to them. With it harder and harder to fire people these days, that too is one more tool in your belt. Good employees, you want to keep, those that prove lacking, they need to go.

I could easily make the argument that good computing practices are patriotic. I could certainly apply this to purchasing respectable anti-virus software and creating policies and procedures that protect your business but, the bottom line is, in the end, it will save the company money.

I was making this argument to a CEO of a good-sized company when he stopped me and said, but viruses help your bottom line too.

I argued that I would much rather use my time and talents to design safe environments for companies like his than put out fires. It is considerably less expensive to install a good fire retardant system then to try and rebuild. Yes, a metaphor for using robust best practice standards in computing vs. reacting to noise.

Noise is the result of a problem created by an event that was unplanned or caused by employee error.

A good security person is somewhat paranoid and is always asking, what if? I do this in disaster recovery scenarios balancing those “what if’s” against statistics and a risks assessment.

With proper education, we can mitigate the employee errors. Using proper procedures and policies, we can diminish the unplanned events, i.e. viruses or other malicious code.

When I run into companies that think free antivirus software is adequate, it makes me a little crazy. If they are a public company, trust me, I will not purchase their stock. Flirting with disaster out of sheer frugality or ignorance is idiotic.

If you keep your guys around because you like them, think again. I may love some folks, but I would not hire them for certain positions if I could find someone better. I don’t have to like you, for you to work for me. If you are the best person for the job, you get the job. P&L trumps feelings! Feelings can be costly and can be a liability. Logic in business is your ally. Logic must always be forefront when making business decisions.

I have walked away from companies who have their kids working for them. By hiring the children, you open yourself up to losses that could be untold. One company had their children not doing the paperwork necessary to complete the task, thus losing money in that department. Hiring me to do an analysis, it did not take long to find the problem. I fired her children after trying to work with them. I kid you not one of them actually cried in my office after telling him time after time he must do all of the job. A grown man crying! There is no crying in IT. Either perform the work or get the hell out! Either do all of the job or learn to ask, “Do you want fries with that?” Is that too tough? I felt for the kid but, feelings do not dictate policy.

Do your kids a favor and don’t hire them. The real world does not work that way so why in the world handicap them, and make them believe that it does?

Over the years there are best practices that have been created by time trusted procedures and policies.

Some are things like:

Hardware Asset management.
Software Asset Management
Security both physical and digital

I could write a book on the subject, but I will spare you the details.

Today, now more than ever we must harden our networks. We must have sound policies and procedures in place, and they must be adhered to. Documentation is essential, and it must be updated.

I don’t relish firing people but, sometimes their people are the problem, and the CEO is so far removed from the process they just don’t know it. If training can fix it, I am all for it. Attitude too plays a crucial role in the process, and I will not tolerate a crappy attitude. Life is too short, and the subject matter is too important.

I love the HR folks because often they are the gatekeepers, saving the CEO from disaster. Good HR folks are worth their weight in silver. Gold, maybe not, so let’s stick with silver. Worthy people are not that hard to find as many would have you believe. Upright people are around, but they may not have everything that you are looking for immediately.

Instant gratification is an expensive luxury and can be elusive at best. Where employees are concerned, I want to start with a “good foundation.”

We place certifications above character, and that is part of our modern day conundrum.

I hired a grocery store manager and trained him for a job in IT. He had little experience in the job I hired him for, so why did I hire him?

He had the right attitude and wanted to learn.

I had the time to train him.

The money used for training him was penny’s compared to hiring exactly what I was looking for.

He did not have the bad habits that come with so many “experts” with the certifications, and their egos.

He ran a grocery store and let me tell you; he was not afraid of work!

Back in the day, we had interns or apprentices. Folks, we need to look carefully at that once again. I have hired many over the years that had the right attitude and the skill set to learn. American people are out there struggling, and we won’t give them a chance. Why? Instant gratification. We need someone who can step into the job right now, and we run with minimum employees because of what? Because it is so expensive to have employees.

That is one of the things we need to push back on Congress and health care to fix, but the reality is, internships and apprentices I think are essential to finding and creating good employees.

Every job fair that I go to has thousands of workers looking for work. If you can’t find them, you are not looking! I spot good employees daily. There are times I would love to go work for a recruiter just because I can spot talent!

Are they the exact racehorse ready for the Derby today? Maybe not, but can they be trained? There are virtual diamonds in the rough everywhere, looking for a chance! We are begging to bring in more H1B folks instead of taking care of our own. That is not very damned patriotic if you ask me!

Our schools are a disaster in my opinion. In speaking with college graduates today, I am frequently amazed at just how ignorant and totally out of touch with reality that they are. Someone somewhere screwed them to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars for an education that is worthless. When they think voting for a socialist is a good idea, they were screwed by their college and should demand their money back!

Today we have kids tens of thousands of dollars in debt, and they cannot find a job. I know of several college grades making much less than $15 an hour. Our educational system needs an overhaul.

As quickly as a company can get a process documented and packaged, they send it overseas via a VPN over the internet, sending jobs out of the country.

Trades are being overlooked for white collar jobs which are going the same way. IT jobs are vanishing in the states. Virtual IT shops are set up in some foreign country, hiring an English speaking American to act as a liaison between them and their Indian or other counterparts. With an American point of contact, it is then up to the American to manage the folks in another country who speak little English, making little money, to be the IT shop for these American companies. This same person puts an American face on their business while working with their client managing the “noise.”

“Do you see any security risk there?”

You have no clue where your intellectual property is going or who is seeing it. Maybe you have a contract but so what. Much like HIPAA was created to protect your health information, do you honestly feel as if your information is secure? If you do, you are fooling yourself. Read the documents you sign when you visit the doctor. You sign things saying that your information is protected and then you sign a document which pretty much gives them a pass to do whatever they want to do with your information. Smoke and mirrors.

Doctors and hospitals are hacked and the information is stolen all too often. Why? How? Piss poor planning on someone’s part. Using some cheap method to get things done perhaps?

Your contract with your Virtual IT company is as worthless as the paper it was printed on. Yes, that deal might make you feel better but, know if you are a developer, someone in some other country has your work and if they can use it, they will.

I want to touch on Software Asset Management as it is germane to this subject. All of the subjects are salient, but that one, in particular, is in the case of security.

There are tools which you can use to inventory every program on every PC. Why? Why would you want to do this?

Licensing of software is an issue, but more importantly, you should want to know what is on those PCs. The first time I did this for a company I was struck with the reality of the sheer number of programs designed for remote control of a PC, that was active.

In this world we live in, corporations can ill afford to have the wild west inside their computer networks. Besides the games and other foolishness that was identified, the risk to the infrastructure was phenomenal. The company is liable for every program on their PC’s, no matter who put it there. If they are audited for their licenses, and someone like myself does an audit and finds them, they must then produce that license. Can you? Can you put your hands on all of your licenses?

Ignorance is no excuse!

Having been part of the evolution of the business process, dating back to the secretary and the typewriter to current day, I have seen the learning curve first hand. Fighting the first virus on a network before there was anti-virus software; asking “what if” became second nature.

Back when Gregg shorthand was used, a business letter cost an average of $100.00 back then. Now we type out e-mails with the ease of few keystrokes and dictation is a thing of history. Technology has improved the business process, but the bad guys have found a way to make it interesting.

The very tools we use to make our lives easier are under constant threat by evil forces that look for ways to extort money or steal your property either through the exploitation of your network, or your employees themselves.

We use the cloud as if it were a hard drive in some vault in our closet. We send information to the cloud without a clue where the cloud is and who has access to it. Why we don’t encrypt that data before it leaves our computers is beyond me. If I were a villain, I would be looking for ways to infiltrate the “cloud.”

“What if?”

The opinions expressed are my own as well as the intellectual value of the information put forth for your consumption.

Pioneer deceleration problem, My take. #space #time

In 1992, we launched Pioneer 10, which is leaving the solar system. As it reaches further away from the sun, it has begun to decelerate.

Scientists believe to have discovered the solution. They are proposing that particles leaving the spacecraft as heat are pushing against the forward momentum of the craft slowing it.

“I beg to differ.”

Using the good old formula F=MA, that simply does not seem to add up.

I read about this anomaly years ago and have noodled the issue for, well years.

Time is not a constant.

We here on earth think of time as purely a linear progression that we measure with clocks, watches, and calendars.

For years we have all seen the model of the solar system on a green grid with the sun, planets and other bodies all warping the fabric of space as they “fall” in their respective orbits.

Picture the solar system not on a horizontal plane but inside a bubble. Maybe it is an oblong bubble and not a perfect sphere but a bubble never the less.

Now picture the other things inside that solar system in their respective bubbles, each creating a bubble that is respective of its mass.

That bubble is warped space. Its intensity of warpage is directly proportional to the amount of gravity.

When we see these huge storms on the sun that go on for days, or the Magellanic Clouds that seem to be frozen in time, this is our first clue that time is not a constant.

If we could build a craft that could tolerate the heat of the sun and orbit it much closer to the sun, I also suspect that the storms on the sun would happen at an accelerated rate. That craft would be in a different “local time.”

1dbd_flux_capacitor_car_charger — Pick this handy little gadget up at Think Geek!

Much like traveling through the country we pass time zones and date zones. If you hopped in your faster than lightspeed spaceship with your version of the flux capacitor and left to see the Horsehead Nebula, when you got there, it would not be there.

Leaving your “local time” heading outside of the solar system would put you into another time zone. Instead of being based on some ancient 60 seconds to the minute, the next “bubble might be 75 seconds to the minute.”

Traveling between the Bubbles in that area of empty space, where gravity does not play a role might very well find you traversing the distance in “no time,” as there is nothing there to create the bubble!

Pioneer 10 and 11 are slowing because they are reaching the end of this bubble and entering into another local time. Once outside the bubble of the Milky Way, I suspect it will speed up significantly.

Where the demarcation point of that bubble is, is truly a mystery.

This postulation can be proved or disproved with a simple test.

As the spacecraft get further away, does the bit rate of the telemetry change at all, even in the slightest?

The bit rate should not change with distance, only time!

I am a science fiction writer. I don’t pretend to understand the books of math that these scientists do. Because I don’t constrain my thought process to what I can find a formula for, I can think outside the box.

The postulations no matter how preposterous they may seem to the scientific community, I claim them as mine and hold that copyright.

They may very well find themselves in one of my next novels which is possibly the only place that they belong.

-Best

Open letter to Bill O’Reilly @oreillyfactor @Bill_O_Reilly on #Harambe, did Magilla (Harambe) have to die?

The other night on the O’Reilly show, Bill called those of us who question the shooting of this animal (Crazy.)

Firstly, I called Harambe, Magilla for a reason. There are a number of us Baby Boomers, who might think of this creature with fondness. Years ago there was a cartoon about a lovable gorilla named Magilla. Magilla would constantly cause his owner, Mr. Peabody angst. We, in fact, have this as our “context” of what and who this creature was which might cause us to become mawkish over this creature.

We might also remember with fondness the work of Dian Fossey or Jane Goodall. We might be aware of the work of Francine or “Penny” Patterson and her work with KOKO who one could have a conversation with through signing, using its own language of GSL (Gorilla sign language.)

Then Bill we see small snippets on the news of an animal that appears to be helping the child up after a terrific fall, and find out that Harambe was shot for looking out for the child.

The problem Bill; we did not appreciate the vulgarian nature of the creature as we did not see the video of the child dragged through the water by its leg until we watched your show.

Once again journalism at its finest looks to incite public outcry, I suspect for ratings by biasing the story.

I would submit to you Bill; it is not us who are crazy. It is we the public that are deceived under the guise of reporting a story. In truth, they appear to be practicing “Yellow Journalism.”

In this, I agree with Trump; some media are sleaze. It would appear that they might do anything for ratings without regard for the end result.

By the way Mr. Trump, you might want to get some thicker skin for the job you are applying for.

Just my two Cents…

-Best

The Ivory Tower of liberalism yet again shines like a beacon on a hill.

Richard Dreyfuss @RichardDreyfuss shows us just how out of touch Hollywood types are by his latest twitter diatribe.

“Trump supporters are struggling, and those supporters of notoriety are whores.” Paraphrased but pretty close.

Don’t you find it amazing that those that are the most vocal about doing away with our second amendment are those who have armed body guards to protect them?
Isn’t it amazing that those who claim to know the “real Americans” live inside a liberal bubble of propaganda, Hollywood elites, and other closed minded folks?

Richard; loved you in the movies but you don’t know me! You don’t know the struggling whores who work two jobs to make ends meet. You have no clue what it is like to struggle just to make the house payment, electricity bill and manage some sort of groceries to do it all again next week and then the next.

Yes, Richard, we are all whores as we sell our time and our bodies for money so we can go from one day to the next. The others who don’t work, they too struggle as well as they certainly don’t get enough to make ends meet from the rest of us that do work. With millions on food stamps and millions more coming across the border it is only a matter of time when there is no more porridge left to give out.

Of course, you, Hollywood Ivory Tower types don’t know anything about that do you? Maybe we should just all eat Cake!

_blog_wp-content_uploads_2008_04_dreyfuss-encinitas-i.jpg — 1.5Million dollar estate of R. Dreyfuss

Trump supporters don’t like the idea of a Political elite class who cannot tell the truth if she wanted to. The Clinton Dynasty is long overdue to ride off into the sunset of history.

download (2).jpg — Belongs to the dead broke HRD

Keep doing what you do best, regurgitate lines written by people that know more than you, and emote!

The crap that comes from Hollywood is part of the problem in this country.

Between the violent music and violent movies, we have a host of dysfunctional people that use what they see through media as a guide on a way to live.

111004103034-rushkoff-occupy-wall-street-story-top-572x321.jpg — The Useful idiots return.

Throughout history, people have watched something on the silver screen or the idiot box and replicated some action or idea that was ill advised.

Now we have millionaires who don’t live on a budget trying to advise us that progressive values are what we should be voting for while not paying attention to how bad off California actually is.

If these kids paying for these high priced college educations were actually learning anything they would recognize this as a bad thing.

These same rocket scientists see this is their savior…

These policies that they espouse will be the total destruction of their state much like it is in Vennizueyla today or Greece was last summer and still is!

Socialism is not taught in America… They are in economic collapse!

Even if you have money, you can’t buy what is not available.

No Richard, we are not struggling or whores, what we are is damned tired of elites such as yourself calling us whores or miscreants or idiots. We get it because we live it!

When Trump becomes the next President, and you decide like so many of your ilk that you cannot live in this country any longer, please don’t let the door hit you in the Ass! In addition, please convince the rest of your kind to follow you. The land is cheap in Venezuela right now, but you might want to pack your own toilette paper, as they do not have any!

My two cents…

-Best

Original Article

Richard Dreyfuss Goes Off on ‘Small-Dicked’ Donald Trump and Celebrity ‘Whores’ Who Support Him

My Two Cents #Cowardice and #Bullying

Cowardice is certainly not a topic I write about often, but it seemed appropriate given the times that we live.

Following social media reminded me just how misguided some people are. Launching vicious attacks on “public figures” under some pseudo name.

Those actions my friends are gutless cowardice. That gesture Does nothing to heal this country. In fact, it further exemplifies just how fallen we as people are.

We do this with our driving as well, as we are autonomous in our cars. We think nothing of cutting people off or driving carelessly. We can hide behind our sunglasses and know that we can escape those that we piss off. We use our horns as weapons to berate those that don’t drive aggressively enough to suit us. We use our vehicle as a weapon slowing everyone else down riding in the left lane because we have taken on the role as “road nazi.”

It is all wrong folks.

It is not your job to force others to comply with your version of how to drive.

The horn is not a cattle prod!

The horn is to warn of imminent danger IE you have drifted out of your lane “wake the hell up!”

When in line at the bank or movie theater or grocery store we are much more polite. Why? Because the person or people that you piss off might take you to task.

That is how you should be while driving or on social media, pretend like those that you are talking with are sitting next to you. Healthy debates are one thing, four letter name calling is juvenile, cowardice and flat out being a bully!

Don’t you find it interesting that millennials are driving this whole narrative about not bullying but in fact on social media are the worst perpetrators of it?

Maybe there is a disconnect in the terminology. Maybe they have not figured out what being a bully is?

Possibly they are bullied in “real life” so sitting in their mother’s basement in their underwear calling others names under the pseudo name “Morbius, or Death Eater” is their way of dealing with their real life.

“I can bully this person as long as nobody knows that it is me.”

Is that why geeky people escape into role playing games where they can suddenly “be someone?”

Are the bullies behind the wheel or the keyboard the bullied in “real life.”

Read the stuff on twitter or feedback on some of these forums. If you espouse an opinion such as on this piece, and someone takes some objection to it, heaven help you.

You cannot control the actions of others.

What you can do is lead by example.

State your case in a manner that would lead others to follow your example. Ignore those that are helplessly lost in their world of four-letter words, and ethnic diatribes.

Ignored behavior goes away.
Leading by example teaches.
What is it that you wish to teach?

I for one want to leave this world a little better than I found it. That should be the goal of everyone.

We can do that in our day to day discourse with fellow travelers on this road of life.

To my geeky friends out there, take heart, the meek shale inherit the earth. In this life, I have found that the geeks also make the money and control those jocks who stole your lunch money! If this is you, stop pushing this agenda down the road. Those that bully you today will grow up “mature” and those that cower in the basement will either learn to deal or become twisted internally spending lots of money on therapists or doing something stupid as in Sandy Hook or Aurora.

is it nice.jpg — I would add…act…Before you “act…take an action, Think!

The bullying must stop at all levels, and we can start with our day to day discourse online. Everyone alive has some “shit” that they are dealing with. Cut them some slack!

The Millennials have the right idea. If they can arrest the bullying and learn that we all have talents either with physical prowess or with intellectual prowess it would be a much better place. If I were a jock, I would befriend the geeks as assistance with calculus from them would go far. A symbiotic relationship between the strong and the meek is nature’s way if you study it at all.

My two Cents