Coopernundrums

    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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    Today I would like to rant a bit about the overused term BASICALLY.  Seems like everyone from late night talk show hosts to politicians uses the term basically as a crutch or a filler word.  They need to STOP NOW!

    We have a beautiful language.  The English language has thousands of words that roll off ones tongue with grace and fluidity.  I basically want everyone to stop murdering the language.  Basically this is our heritage we are talking about.  A gift that has been basically handed down from one generation to another that should basically be preserved.  Instead, we basically abuse it.  It is basically torture to the ears.

    There are so many descriptive words that people can use to speak in a beautiful, meaningful way. You might be surprised if you stop and explore the extent of your own vocabulary, and the fact that you don’t use it for your own benefit. We all probably know the meanings of many words, but we don’t employ them in our speech or writing.

    My theory is that basically is just one of those words that we use to “sum things up” or to say “well you should get it, its so simple I just explained the whole thing to you in English!”

    So please, for the LOVE OF PETE, try to find some sprightly alternatives to the term BASICALLY. User your mind and come up with better more meaningful adjectives.  Basically, I am saying NO MORE BASICALLY!

     I was just introduced to the most brain stimulating debate I have had in while and I thought I would share it with you.  It is not a new debate, certainly not when you’re dealing with millennia.  Late last night I sat at the old computer gathering info about the last ten years for my end-of-year blog post and I came to the frustrating realization that there is actually a great deal of debate about this subject.  It seems there is general confusion regarding how the decades and millennia are interpreted by the average Joe.

     I must admit that I fell into the trap of believing the hype and had it embedded in my mind that the end of the first decade of the new millennium is about to end.  Many people call this decade The Oughts or The ’00s. Clearly, then, the decade includes years that have zero as the third digit. Next year, that third digit turns to a 1, so the end of the decade obviously is at hand right?  Consider also the popular terms affixed to decades.  Since I am a child of the ’80s that would mean that can only years that include some derivative of 80 should be included.  In no way can 1979 be considered part of the ’80s. Using that logic, 2010 must mark the beginning of the next decade.   Webster’s New World College Dictionary defines a decade as “in common usage, a ten-year period beginning with a year 0, as 1920-1929.”  All of these factors prove that this decade will end on Dec. 31, 2009, Right?

     Another school of thought says that as we age, we are not said to be 1 until after living 12 months, and we do not celebrate a 10th birthday until after living 10 years. Logical conclusion: The next decade won’t begin until after 2010 concludes. If you think about millennia the first one thousand years started with the number 1 and thus ended with 1000.  This means those years 1001 through 2001 would equal the second millennium.  Following this logic the first decade of this millennium began with the year 2001, and the last year of the first decade of this millennium will be next year, 2010. This is a very compelling argument.

     Does that mean Webster’s dictionary is wrong? No, the definition mentioned earlier, pertained to the “common usage” of the word. The same dictionary also defines a decade as “officially, a ten-year period beginning with the year 1, as 1921-1930.” Webster apparently wants to make everyone happy.

   It seems like the debate itself will be lost in the sea of media outlets and emotional minds ready for this decade to be over.  I for one am happy, since it gives me two years to consider and be respectful of all the wonderful, wondrous and sad things that have occurred in the last ten years.

Happy new year all!