 Erin looks fantastic |
 Cuddling by the lake |
 Here we are again |
 Just the two of us |
 Walking into the sunset |
 Announcement picture |
Erin and I got married August 7th, 2008. Here are a few pictures from photo-shoots we took for our engagement and right after getting married.
 This is by far my favorite of me and Erin |
 A smattering of family photos |
While we were home for Christmas, Erin’s family set up a photo shoot with all of us. We were afraid that the overworked photographer was going to mess everything up at first. She only took one photo of some poses. But, turns out that’s all we needed.
Cheap flash games keep me screen-ward facing.
Maintaining my life points takes pacing.
The house is a mess,
and I must confess,
that high scores I’d rather be chasing.
“What were you thinking?” The computer scientist is a conjurer. With a few incantations in a strange language his thoughts spring to life on the screen. A few clicks and a maniacal cackle later his creation is ready. The relative ease with which a programmer can summon a program from his mind into the virtual reality makes it that much more important that his thoughts be benevolent. Technology is the medium by which we express ideas today. It doesn’t create them – we do. Software wizards are shaping the way the world functions. If you’re reading this you’re already under a technological spell. What motive fueled the creation of this blog engine? Were the developers driven to enrich or ensnare us? For better or for worse the world is enchanted by novel new technologies. If you want to change the world, all you need is a keyboard and a book.
I used to be a computer addict. Then I stumbled into the field of computer science. I also used to wake up at 4:00 a.m. on Christmas morning. When my parents informed us that Santa sold the franchise, my siblings and I lumbered off to bed, wiser, feeling loss for the magic that was no more. After trudging through programs in binary for the LC3 I was never the same again. If your computer calls to you with a sultry siren song, consider taking it apart. I guarantee you’ll never look at it the same again. I still check my facebook account religiously out of duty to keep up. But, gone are the days when the glow of my screen drew me in like a fly to the glowing blue bug zapper hung from the porch with care. Now I can type away cynically without the fog of novelty in which I once was lost.
“Please contact mr Brender Williams E-mail:b_willys39@hotmail.co.uk with your Name,Address,Age,Occupation,Tel and Country to claims your prize from UKNL PROGRAMME.”
One fine day, I let my email slip into the hands of a shady character who sold it to spammers and scammers. Now I keep my hotmail account on standby when I need a good laugh. The scammers that bloat my inbox with a constant supply of “nice tries” were not born of the Internet revolution. Our monitors are windows into the minds and lives of real people on the same planet breathing the same air. The Internet does not invent or create: It enables. The dangers lurking on the Internet are the same dangers skulking outside our front doors. With barely a twitch we have unlimited access. The Internet allows us to funnel smut or enrichment into our lives. But, we were making decisions about what to let into our lives long before the internet. The Internet never has had, nor ever will have, a monopoly on subversive content. Each person needs to decide how to deal with the real world. The same applies to the virtual reality before us. The principles that keep us safe on the internet are the same principles our mothers taught us to keep us safe in real life.
Please contact mr Brender Williams E-mail:b_willys39@hotmail.co.uk with your Name,Address,Age,Occupation,Tel and Country to claims your prize from UKNL PROGRAMME
“It’s mine… gimme!” – The battle cry of the two-year-old echoes through the copyright office. Digital media has lit a firestorm of debate over how to apply copyright laws to this new medium. Ownership is a tricky subject when it comes to digital media. Digital media is intangible and abstract. It exists as little more than a thought stored to disk. Can you own a thought? Is intellect property? Should I be paying royalties every time I get a song stuck in my head? – I hope not! I’m sure the composer of the Rocky theme would love reimbursement each time I climb the stairs to campus – but it’s not going to happen. Musicians don’t own sound waves. Movie producers have no claim to photons. They do, however, deserve credit for their work. Copyrights should exist to protect the creators of original thought from exploitation – not to define what an end user does with it. When consumers purchase a digital work, it becomes their thought. They can not sell it as their own original creation. But, in the words of John Mayer: “when they own the information, they can bend it all they want.”
The gimbal snaps sharply to the side. The camera lens focuses on the target. And, the autopilot settles the plane into a loiter. The technology for this spy plane did not exist a few decades ago. But today anyone can build a remote controlled, auto-piloted, hand-launchable surveillance plane for the price of a four-door sedan. Once upon a time it required experimental aircraft and millions of dollars to get high-altitude photography. And, the times when only NASA could design spaceships have long since past. The world is waking up to a new reality. Anyone with a good idea can change the world. The price of technology is no longer the prohibitive factor it once was. Garage workbenches are where the future of technology and history are being made.
Two months ago I slid into an office chair in my living room, tossed my sandals to the side, and sat cross-legged in front of a spreadsheet to calculate costs for the upcoming semester. My goal was to prove that buying an Amazon Kindle and digital textbooks would cost less than buying my books from the bookstore. After about fifteen minutes I gave up and traded the spreadsheet for a game of spider solitaire. Some semesters I spend $500 on books. There’s no reason an E-reader with five digital textbooks can’t beat that price. Now there’s a new generation of E-readers on the horizon. Barnes & Noble is pushing the Nook as the wave of the future, and rumors of an Apple tablet device are easier to come by than celebrity gossip. Sooner or later some company is going to get the E-reader right. I would like to think it would be soon. Unfortunately, Apple can’t make inexpensive devices and Barnes & Noble can’t sell inexpensive books.
To care is to be determined. Real determination leads to success or ruin or any combination of the two. Determination drives people to invent. It drives people to extremes, and it drives them crazy. So much of what we are today we have because someone picked up an idea and wouldn’t put it down. At some point they had to realize that they cared, and cared deeply. Then came the decision to see it through, though it might cost them dearly. It’s good to be involved. It’s good to care. There’s no telling if the thing that you find yourself caring about will change the world.
Life less complicated 