15 in the A.M.

15 in the A.M.

State of the Mike

I haven’t written a 15 in the AM post in quite a long time. Gee, what to write about…

I walked outside this morning to drain my pool. In the process, poison found me and my leg and arm are itching. I do not like poison.

I can’t believe how much junk was in my home office drawers. Ok. Maybe, I can imagine it since I am obviously the one who put it there.

Cats are extortionists. They just are.

Netflix is making a movie out of the Gray Man book series. I recently added these to my Audible collection. Although I haven’t read them yet, a co-worker says they are good. The Russo brothers are directing which makes the movie prospect even better.

I have to work on a clients computer system today. I don’t know if I’d classify it as a fun time because of all of the added security in macOS. I could get frustrated and want to throw something.

Did I mention that I have a pool and I like it? Sure, I have to drain it and clean it every few weeks but who cares? It is a pool!

That is all I have for now. These are fun for me.

July 18, 2020 by 15 in the A.M. 0

Why Marvel is Better at Making Movies…

…than DC Comics.

Ben Affleck is hanging up the cape, according to a report that the actor is leaving the Batman franchise.


Affleck’s exit comes on the heels of another departure from the DC universe, according to The Hollywood Reporter, which claims Henry Cavill will no longer be Superman.

via New York post

Changing actors so often has become tiresome for movie goers. I just got used to these characters being portrayed by these actors. DC can’t even have the same actor that works on a television show play in their movies. Look at The Flash for example — played by two different actors in two very different ways. Grant Gustin’s television version isn’t the same as Ezra Miller’s version in Justice League.

September 17, 2018 by 15 in the A.M. Sh*t Mike Says 0

Around the Twitter-verse – Monday Edition

Adding an important one…

September 10, 2018 by 15 in the A.M. Drive By Blogging Twitter 0

Random Haberdashery

I don’t know what haberdashery means but it fit in the title. Ok, I know what it means but like Google, I like to hijack words to make them them mean what I want them to mean. So, henceforth — haberdashery means “shizz.”

First thing is that I got to work on a new MacBook. Not a MacBook Pro — just a MacBook. It is one of the smallest but I was impressed with the keyboard. I didn’t feel “cramped” working on it.

  • 2018 12″ MacBook

The other thing I’d like to post is the damage I’ve done to the lawn. Yep. My big ass tent left the mark you see below. Hopefully, this will grow back. I actually feel bad about it.

Impression made by Alps Mountaineering 4 Man Tent
August 1, 2018 by 15 in the A.M. 0

Science Fiction or Not

Sometimes, we don't really need to involve aliens in a screenplay to make the story interesting. I bring this up because my current project is one that could have easily incorporated an alien element and I'm sure it would have made for an entertaining movie. I decided to take the much harder path and not involve anything “alien” in the plotline. In fact, this movie may be a science fiction piece but just barely.

Most things in life are best enjoyed by not taking the easy path. I continuously choose the more difficult paths in everything I do because I find the rewards to be much greater. I think writing fiction is no different.

Ahem. Ok. You can go back to doing whatever…

August 15, 2012 by 15 in the A.M. 0

Taking Pictures…of our food?

Perhaps, it's one of the most perplexing questions of our time.

Why do people take pictures of their food?

For some reason I can't explain, I'm not impressed. In fact, I feel sorry for people who take pictures of their food because it tells me that their lives really don't have much meaning. Let's face it. You have a camera and can take pictures of anything but you choose to take pictures of your breakfast.

I remember taking a picture while I was out with friends a number of months ago. I remember deleting the picture and asking myself why I was taking a picture of food and more importantly, who cares? I mean really. Who gives a shit?

We are a nation of fat overweight slobs and the best we can do with our cell phone cameras is take pictures of food.

We deserve to be smashed out of existence by a big huge asteroid.

 

July 5, 2012 by 15 in the A.M. WTF? 0

Scarey Nanny Crap

While reading the NYT this morning, I came across this article about technology that allows parents to monitor their kids online activity.

The problem with the article (a point that they sneak in at the very end) is that monitoring your childs every move is not only “not very productive” for you but also sows the seeds of dis-trust.

Spy on your kids. Go ahead. Don’t be surprised when they grow up to distrust.

You know that kids don’t inheritantly lie. They need to be taught to do so. Most often, they learn that from their parents. Parents then turn around and get pissed off because “little Bobby” lied to me about where he was going. I guess that is sort of like mommy lying about where she has been to daddy.

This has to be the worst generation of parents that I have ever seen. No amount of software is going to make you a better parent, I’m afraid. Because the regular day care (school) is closed for the summer, I see parents dropping their kids off at the rec center. Parents just have to be able to drop their kids off somewhere don’t they? When I was a kid, my father gave me a dollar and I was on my own for the day until dinner time. I did not need dropped off anywhere. My dad trusted me enough to give me a dollar and let me be a kid. When he asked me what I did later, I simply told him. That is how it is supposed to work.

Spying on your children robs them and you of a relationship built on trust.

Baaaad parents.

June 26, 2012 by 15 in the A.M. 0

My Problems with Farmville

 

1. Way Too Much “Sharing”

2. Way Too Many “Notifications”

3. Notifications literally can interrupt game play, thought processes, and bring the game to an abrupt halt. I’ve been in “placement mode” only to have a notification kick me out of it. Same with plowing or planting seeds. I’ve had to literally go through the process of buying seeds two and three times because a notification has kicked me out of what I’m doing.

4. At this point, Farmville does more of “getting in your way” than anything else.

Ok, small semi-enthusiastic rant over.

 

June 12, 2012 by 15 in the A.M. General Musings Official Rant 0

Why We Have More Gays and Other Fun Facts

Sometimes when I listen to the shows that I produce, I learn a little somethin’ somethin’. Yesterday was no exception when I taped Brass Balls Radio with Wendy Sullivan and Kimberly Haney.

The discussion led to excess estrogen in the water supply and how it gets into the water supply. You will have to listen to the show to get the details because yes, I pimp my own shit from time to time. Once you get over the initial laughable context and the light goes off…well, you’ll understand when you listen. The ladies suggest that the connection explains an exposion of gays and lesbians. Not sure how accurate that is but it is very interesting.

Strictly Right contains a clip of a union worker claiming that democracy is dead because his candidate lost. Huh? Actually, his candidate losing proves that democracy really works. The education system that he attended obviously doesn’t.

 

June 7, 2012 by 15 in the A.M. 0

A Quick One

Sometimes writing comes easy to me and sometimes it doesn’t. Most times, my head fills up with ideas and then I just need to find the right “valve” to use to control the flow to paper. Usually, that is exactly how the process works for me.

Sometimes, it doesn’t.

I’m working on something now that has a bunch of funny pieces and elements to it but they don’t want to fit together and play nice.

I guess I’ll blame the lack of alcohol. The last time I wrote a piece like the one I’m trying to finish I did it while drinking some lager and the piece ended up being quite funny.

Oh, well.

Now I have this Eddie Murphy skit in my head. “You can win Jesse. You can win cause you’re bigger than motherfu**in’ Harold Washington. F*** Harold Washington. F*** ’em.”

That still makes me laugh.

June 4, 2012 by 15 in the A.M. 0

Containment


I’d like to talk about the term “containment” as it relates to forest fires. Is it appropriate to claim 5% containment on a forest fire? Ah..no. Could you say that the fire is 5% “under control?” Ah..no.

What does the word “containment” actually mean?

Containment to me means positive control. If you have 85% containment then that tells me that you have 85% control of the situation. If you were to tell me that you have 5% containment then I would have to question your use of the term “containment.” In other words, you have no containment to speak of. You have 5% of the fire contained but what about the other 95% that isn’t contained.

Containment used in this context seems and feels wrong to me.

There has to be another word.

 

June 2, 2012 by 15 in the A.M. 0

Stuck in Culture

First things first. I made a logo for this 15 minutes of blogging in the morning thing. It’s crappy but then again, I’m no artist. Pretty sure we can all agree on that. Shut up Jennifer. Nobody asked you. 🙂

Now, let’s get on to the thought of the day. What kind of a person are you? Do you concern yourself with your day to day life or do you generally tend to look at a bigger picture?

I just wonder about folks that are so out of touch with the modern business world in general that they don’t even know enough to know that they don’t know anything.

Imagine being stuck in a business culture for about 10 years. You really wouldn’t know anything else would you? Your expectations are going to be based on the things you know. For the last ten years, the company you work for is all you knew. I remember working for a company in the not so distant past where I was forced to schedule back hauls based on emails that I would get throughout the day. Another employee watched me go through the email process and pointed out that my methods were painfully old fashioned and that I needed to move into the current decade. His advice was valuable and helped me cope with a changing office culture. Doing backhauls the old fashioned way was all I knew and I had no idea that it could be done another way. Some people have called this type of thing “thinking outside the box” but sometimes we don’t even know another world of ideas or possibilities exist.

I would also suggest that I’ve had a bit of a culture problem with my production websites as well. I was used to running out of bandwidth and space and I accepted that I would have to make periodic adjustments along the way. It is the way it is…or so I thought. After getting frustrated enough with my current server hosts, I decided to shop around for something else. Not only did I end up finding something better but I found a place where bandwidth and space problems do not exist. I also ended up saving about $400.00 a year. Why didn’t I look for alternatives a long time ago?

Ok. I’ve been typing at this off and on all day long and the idea behind this is to write about what I am thinking about when I first get up.

I’m done now.

May 31, 2012 by 15 in the A.M. 0

15 in the AM for May 30, 2012

This could be the title of my latest book, “How to Neuter Your Computer.”

The idea behind using a computer to make you or your company more productive is to actually allow the computer to do most of the work. Some companies follow that philosophy and some don’t. I often look around and wonder why we still have so much paper floating around when computers were supposed to change that too. They did. People just haven’t caught on yet.

Human beings have a real problem with change. They will go ahead and write an article on their word processor but still need a “hard copy” to file away in a file cabinet somewhere…just in case. The paper copy is my backup. Huh? History really needs to get past people like you and quickly.

Processes at companies that should be relying on computers are deligated to a person to “watch” over a process to make sure it runs correctly. Huh? Instead of using a computer to filter results we manually task a human with that. I want such and such a certain way…and so forth rather than programming the computer to do so.

We don’t trust computers to do things correctly so we rely on the guy who can’t remember what he ate for lunch yesterday to do it. Fabulous.

Progress will happen if we just get out of our own way.

 

May 30, 2012 by 15 in the A.M. 0

15 in the AM for May 29, 2012

This is a new idea I came up with to force myself to post more on my own website. Take 15 minutes and write about what’s on my mind before I launch into the day.

Today, I find myself focusing on an audiobook I’m listening to called “Star Carrier: Book Two – Center of Gravity.” This book is set well into the future and the author paints a dark future for mankind where American government has fallen and global warming has destroyed costal cities. That is the great thing about science fiction in that..well, it’s fiction.

The government that author Ian Douglas speaks about in the book is of course, a world government with no party affiliations. Rule of law is drafted by consensus. All must agree or most must agree; you get the idea.

The aliens in this book are hostile. In fact, the alien species introduced in book two make Star Trek’s Borg look like infant children. In the first few chapters, the aliens are streaking towards Earth at incredible speeds and it seems that nothing can stop them.

At the last minute, the break up into parts and flee. Huh?

I get the feeling that these books were written by someone with little or no combat experience. The easiest way to write about a military you weren’t in is to invent your own system as Ian Douglas has here. A little digging into his biography at Harper Collins reveals that Ian was a Navy Corpsman. Point made.

It seems to me that the only way to get global warming to work, the only way to get a world government to work, the only way to get socialism to work, is to create it within a work of fiction.

We all know from experience that those things just don’t work in the real world.

May 29, 2012 by 15 in the A.M. 0
Mike Williams
One of the biggest nerds you have never known with a most uncommon name. Gamer tag is CaptainNukko.