Coopernundrums

The founding fathers were a variety of beliefs, many were indeed deists with close ties to Christianity. It is important to keep in mind that even with these convictions they were intelligent enough to realize and defend the right to freedom of religion. They wrote our founding documents with the intention that choice of religion must be left IN THE MIND OF THE INDIVIDUAL. They also understood that this choice should be protected and not influenced by goverment favortism or persicution.

It is easy for atheists to sometimes inadvertantly lend credence to the fallacy that the founders of our country were not religious individuals and wanted an atheist run goverment. I understand that many were indeed deeply religious. I also understand that because of what they had been through suffering their own persecution that they did not want a Christian use only government with all others being mere guests.

I like to think of the First Amendment as an anti-trust law that should prevent monopolies on power. This means that our goverment is not allowed to favor Christianity or any other religion. It is supposed to protect both theists and atheists from persecution.

I get pretty sick of people who dont study their history and make unfounded claims that atheists want to make religion illegal. We simply want to get OUR GOVERMENT, back to the neutral position the founders intended.

Prayer for example has not been outlawed in schools like they’d have you think. What is unconstitutional is creating a captive audience and forcing others to participate or to be singled out for not participating.

In conclusion, our government institutions have to be free from religious favortism or persicution, so that we all can be free outside these neutral institutions to practice or believe what we want. Independance comes with the responsibility that it is not anyone’s right to use goverment to monopolize what it means to be a citizen.

   Working in the software industry for the last 10 years means I have had the pleasure of dealing with EVERY level of computer user you can imagine.  I firmly believe that our schools are FAILING our children in one enormous fundamental way.  THEY DO NOT SEEM TO TEACH KIDS ANYTHING ABOUT COMPUTERS!! 

    It seems very clear to me that we spend far more time teachin math and science and other sundry skills and almost nothing useful regarding the lubricant that runs our world.  I have talked to accountants that know nothing about how their PCs work. I have spoken to sofware developers that have no idea that there are other operating systems outside of windows XP.  I have talked to supposed IT administrators that have no idea what a command line code is.

    It is very frustrating to me to see these and other highly intelligent individuals CRIPPLED by their lack of knowledge regarding the very thing that pays their bills.

   I know I am ranting but I really believe that we need to speed a great deal more time educating folks about how PCs work from the inside out, not just what they can do.  PC support and repair should be as much a foundation subject as English and Physical Education.  Its a shame that in this day and age that we have so many people tha can not install simple software or uninstall it.

    Then again..it means I stay in work and will always have a job..

    Ah the doldrums of late winter.  I sit writing this while my mind pines away for the sunshine and warmth of spring.  I am sure many of you reading this feel the same way.  Thinking of what to write has been tough lately, but today I had a fun thought and in a flash knew what this post would be about.

    Being a technophile means I will never be without work, thankfully. That being said here is a list of the invaluable tools that I believe every card carrying  computer geek needs to do their primary job and of course al the side work we have as well.

The trusty USB Thumb Drive

Unless you just enjoy hauling a 9 pound brick of a laptop with you everywhere you go, having a small key chain, compact USB flash drive is a lifesaver.  I have one that is 32 GB large.  No “mine’s bigger than your’s” jokes, please.  I have mine set as a bootable device with a whole cavalcade of recovery and “fixer” programs.  I never leave home without it and I have everything I need to get any PC up and running with me at all times.

Dedicated Web Space

You might think this is more of a luxury than a tool, but I assure you in times of need having a virtual medium out there on the World Wide Web that you can send files to and retrieve files from ANYWHERE in the world is an INVALUABLE tool.  When the old thumb drive is full or cant be used, say on a PC with no USB ports free, this tool is my “go to GUY”.

 FTP Program

Well, if you have web space out there in the virtual world you have to have a way to get to it right?  A good QUALITY File Transfer Protocol program is a true necessity.  I won’t go into my likes and dislikes about FTP app cause I have some quirky needs.  What I will say however is make sure you try out several programs before you settle on one you will stick with for a while.  Lots of great freeware programs for this but beware many of the free ones are garbage.

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