Photography - Just a Little Hobby

Ham radio, shortwave radio, electronics, motorcycles...  These are all things that have faded from my life over the last ten years or so.  Occasionally this fact weighs heavily on my little inner kid; he just doesn't understand how avocations and interests in my life tend to be cyclical.  In the mid to late 80's I was active in amateur radio and electronics; then again in the late 90's and once again in the mid 2000's.

In the late 2000's motorcycles and motorcycle repair were very important activities.  One might say they were vital activities in my odd little world back then.  Not only did I nearly completely restore a vintage Suzuki VX800 but I rode across the county solo, not once but twice.  Memories of my motorcycle past are a bit melancholy at times.

BUUUUTTTT....  An old interest is rising again and I like it; photography.

Specifically, I enjoy making landscape and agricultural photos.  There is just something fulfilling about recording a certain moment in time.  When the moment and light and camera settings are just right and the shutter snaps, honestly, I get goosebumps.

Standby - new photo website coming soon.  :-)

The 4400 - An Old Review by a Crazy Old programmer

Some couples go out at night after work for a few drinks.  Some go out dancing.  Some like plays or theater.  Others enjoy participating in sports.  Some like to go mudding in big 4x4 pickups.  Others enjoy riding together down quiet stretches of highway on two wheels; we certainly shared a few blissful motorcycle miles.

Unfortunately fate, the bitter harsh bitch that she can be, narrowed our pool of potential shared activities significantly.  That, however, just means a life adjustment.  Rather than go out of the house to participate in some activity; we stay indoors for the most part.   And, what do we frequently do???  Binge watch television shows.

Last month my wife found this show, The 4400 on Netflix and we decided to watch it.  So, one night after the next, weeks on end we watched The 4400 from beginning to end.  And the review???

Well, it's no Breaking Bad, however it was worthy of binge watching.  The 4400 series begins with 4400 abductees being returned to Earth all at once on the shore of a Washington State lake, out of a giant ball of light.  Over the course of the next 43 episodes we watch as some of these 4400 people re-integrate into society.  Consider two important facts about these folks... 1) They didn't age a day from when they were abducted;  2) They all have special 'abilities'.  So an abductee from 1977 wouldn't have aged.  If the person was 25 years old in 1977, they were 25 years old when they returned.  And...  the abilities...  One of the main characters can heal, one has telekinesis, one can take away 'abilities'...  The list goes on...

Add in a shake of government conspiracy, societal unrest, little science fiction, little tiny amount of mystery and romance and there it is...  The 4400.  Really, to me this program appears to be a thinly veiled mish-mash of Heros with The X-Files.  Even though The 4400 was aired before Heros, the former seems more stiff and less engaging.  For me, Heros was more entertaining, engaging and enjoyable; it even seemed more original.

So, if you like Heroes or The X-Files, you just might like watching The 4400.

More than 110M People have already upgraded...

WOW!!!  According to the "ad-ware" pop-up message that seems to appear more and more frequently on my computers, more than 110 million people have upgraded to Windows 10...  and for FREE, none the less!!!

Did they do it on purpose?  Or...  did these people really look at what they were getting?

On a slight tangent...  Apparently in recent history an incorrect assumption was made somewhere in my cerebral cortex...  I assumed Windows was NOT "ad-ware".  I thought this was commercial software that was to be free from advertisements.  Oh, sure...  This COULD be construed as simply being a somewhat irritating upgrade message.  More that somewhat irritating at times perhaps.

And why would the tagline "More than 110 M people have already upgraded..." be a motivating factor for myself, a computing professional, to switch operating systems?  I am a critical thinker (most of the time),  and, as I get older, am gaining a slight disdain for rapid change.  Not long ago Windows XP was phased out.  Now...  I am being brow-beaten to upgrade my Windows 7 machines to Windows 10?

Seriously, 110 million people...  Let me see...

• According to the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, about 1.1 billion people smoke cigarettes.
• According to the Huffington Post, 70% of all men in the US, and 30% of all Women watch pornography.  That calculates to about 153 million people in the US.
• According to About.com, there have been 700 million iPhones sold throughout the world.

No...  Number one, I am not going to take up smoking; Number two, porn is boring and I get more action that I can handle from my better half; and Number three, I like my Android phone.

And...  No, I am not upgrading to Windows 10 until I absolutely MUST.  Now...  Buzz Off, Microsoft!

**Microsoft, Windows, iPhone (etc...) are all owned by their respective owners...  I don't want them.

C# Background Workers Using Shared Memory

It doesn't happen often in my particular coding shop, but once in a rare while the requirement for different threads in a program to use a shared memory variable rears it's head.  It really isn't difficult to handle this requirement in C#; actually, it is surprisingly easy if you are careful to avoid deadlock situations,

The key to this solution is a simple static class:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;

namespace ThreadCom
{
    static class StaticShare
    {
        public static object MsgLock = new object(); // Functions as a lock when accessing Messages.
        public static string Messages = ""; // This is what is shared and used in all threads of this sample program.
    }
}

Basically, this snippet of C# code creates a static class with two public properties: MsgLock and Messages.  MsgLock is used to control access to Messages; a string that contains the data shared among the different threads.  Remember, performance is important; keep the shared static variable terse and small.

Here is how a thread (specifically a BackgroundWorker) might use the StaticShare class to lock, access and change the shared data without causing noticeable contention or throwing exceptions:

                lock (StaticShare.MsgLock)
                {
                    ReportProgress(0, "From " + BWName + " -> " + StaticShare.Messages);
                    StaticShare.Messages = BWName + " current time: " + DateTime.Now.ToString();
                }

The first line locks MsgLock, or causes the thread to wait until another thread's lock is released.  The ReportProgress() line is a method belonging to a BackgroundWorker, that line, in this case is accessing our shared variable Messages.  The last line in the Lock() block assigns something to the shared variable.

One big caveat here...  Make the code within the lock() block short, concise, to the point and fast.  If the code there is time-consuming or performs poorly, the lock() could cause other threads to be blocked.

Remember...  thread blocking is not cool!

You can download the entire c# project from my Google Drive here.  Standard code disclaimer: This code is for education, information and perhaps a few laughs.  It may not be perfect but does demonstrate a valid implementation of using shared storage with a multi-threaded C# application.

-whew-

Goodbye Facebook

Yup...  See ya later.  Apparently the fine folks at the world's most prominent social media site don't believe I am who I say I am.  Fifteen years ago, if Facebook was around, I wouldn't have blamed them one bit for being a bit suspiscious; but now???  I am ME...  really!

But not according to Facebook.  Here's what their little help page shows me...

Why was my account disabled?

Your account was disabled for violating the Facebook Terms.

Our Policies

• Your account must list your authentic name.
• Personal accounts must represent individual people only. It's a violation of our policies to use a personal profile to represent anything other than yourself (ex: celebrities, pets, ideas, objects, etc.).
• Impersonating anyone or anything is not allowed.
• Maintaining multiple accounts is a violation of our policies.
• Accounts created for the purpose of spamming or harassing others are strictly prohibited.

(The above is from the page at https://www.facebook.com/help/245058342280723)

Well... My name on Facebook was not EXACTLY my authentic name but close.  I mean, really...  how many people use their 'authentic name' on most internet sites?  Are they saying a person with a name like 'Josephina Hope-Rosetta Kellerman-Patrinskia' must use that exact name on Facebook?  Wouldn't 'Jose Kellerman' work just as fine, so long as the person isn't trying to be deceptive?

"Personal accounts must represent individual people," they state.  What about this profile? https://www.facebook.com/phillip.cat.31

My only activities over the last year have included interacting with my daughters and one or two friends.  How often?  Hell, I only logged onto Facebook maybe once a week.  Real life is where the fun is happening!

At any rate, now the fine folks at Facebook, according to the information at (https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/183000765122339) want me to scan and upload a government ID that contains my name and date of birth or name and a photo, or two non-governmental IDs that contain my name and date of birth or name and a photo, or some combination of different IDs...  Honestly, I didn't read much past the first two options.

Sure, they do state that things like Social Security Numbers, credit card numbers, etc...  should be covered up, blurred or otherwise obscured.

Still...  Facebook...  You just aren't that important.

Apparently This Is a 'Thing'

Confirmed...  Watching videos on YouTube of other people play video games is indeed a 'thing'.  My daughter likes Markiplier and my other daughter's boyfriend likes to watch videos from some other guy.

Seriously...  Watching other people play video games???  An activity (if one can call it that) for those techno-geeks too lazy to watch golf!

Disclaimer: I love my daughters and their boyfriends are part of our family, no doubt.  My opinion stands...  too lazy to watch golf...  sometimes.  :-)

Where DO All The Old Programmers Go???

My wife and I just happened to be doing a little shopping together last weekend in a little fabric store.  There by the front door was a moderately sized sign that advertised their "senior discount" program.  After a few moments, it hit my brain...  One more year and I could qualify!  I mean, 5% off is 5% off, but I sure as hell don't feel or act that old.

That little sign made me wonder...  What the hell does happen to older programmers?  Well, here's a few links that might explain where they go.  (and, no...  they don't dry up and evaporate, slowly curl up into the fetal position where they spend the rest of their lives or end up in rehab clinics for the chronically caffeine addicted.)

Where do all the programmers go?

Why aren't there a lot of old programmers at software companies?

A 55-Year-Old Developer Tells Us What It's Like To Face Homelessness In A Youth-Obsessed Silicon Valley

What happens to all the "old" programmers?

I've got about 20 years before retirement age...  One thing I can say at this point in my professional life...  Programming has never been, and never will be boring.