tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-44803975423914530862024-03-11T08:19:22.183-07:00Mea Vita: Carpe DiemJoe Morenohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15012979041398989021noreply@blogger.comBlogger822125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4480397542391453086.post-90393923692484353092024-03-11T08:12:00.000-07:002024-03-11T08:18:51.751-07:00Hacking Software Developers<p><span style="font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY5hJBhg2N-JrmTIwe7hs8vlVWb_u_TSwJJpzP7pVoloDZPN1UsWHDJy3ZAe3AJH_2SXwqT5P55n2FsdwM8BgvB-n3pDeLrlgP9zPl8SSlcTDPQUAMF_xVp9i75M6aJLaqCsNYLbJRZ1BZEO8U0WukLV856DUGcMmK66E06tSJIPtnqQIE-581tQ6Ivbf2/s1024/DALL%C2%B7E%202024-03-11%2008.10.04%20-%20A%20software%20developer%20sits%20in%20front%20of%20a%20large,%20dual-monitor%20setup%20in%20a%20dimly%20lit%20room,%20focused%20intently%20on%20their%20work.%20The%20room%20is%20cluttered%20with%20tech.webp" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY5hJBhg2N-JrmTIwe7hs8vlVWb_u_TSwJJpzP7pVoloDZPN1UsWHDJy3ZAe3AJH_2SXwqT5P55n2FsdwM8BgvB-n3pDeLrlgP9zPl8SSlcTDPQUAMF_xVp9i75M6aJLaqCsNYLbJRZ1BZEO8U0WukLV856DUGcMmK66E06tSJIPtnqQIE-581tQ6Ivbf2/s320/DALL%C2%B7E%202024-03-11%2008.10.04%20-%20A%20software%20developer%20sits%20in%20front%20of%20a%20large,%20dual-monitor%20setup%20in%20a%20dimly%20lit%20room,%20focused%20intently%20on%20their%20work.%20The%20room%20is%20cluttered%20with%20tech.webp" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;">I recently heard about an interesting hack that was targeting software developers, especially those on Linux. It basically tricks developers into installing malware on their computer by way of a fake job interview and downloading code from a public code repository.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">During an initial call, the fake company asks you to complete a software development exercise by downloading a project from GitHub. The project, which contains a ZIP file, has a seemingly benign non-executable file named something like “readme․pdf” except that the dot, in the filename, isn’t a simple dot/period but rather a symbol that looks like a period such as U+2024. In other words, the OS doesn’t see a file extension (PDF in this example).</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">When the developer double clicks on the file, it executes. Typically, on Linux, a user must manually chmod a downloaded file to set the executable flag (i.e. <span style="font-family: courier;">chmod +x readme․pdf</span>). However, since this filed was embedded in a ZIP file, the executable meta data can be preserved. Also, a password is sometimes added to the ZIP file so even smart virus protection software can’t scan the ZIP file. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">This is a Homograph Attack using Unicode Deception. Two things to be suspicious of this attack is the zipping of small-sized files and the password on a ZIP.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://youtu.be/25Txv9MmrYA" target="_blank">Here are the details on the hack</a>. </span></p>Joe Morenohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15012979041398989021noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4480397542391453086.post-6925362125262768692024-02-09T15:27:00.000-08:002024-02-09T15:58:39.479-08:00 Vision Pro Demo<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRFjh7TrIjbsp2jxoG97ZD1UhpFbiOL_EW1IdKZPkBsBno3Ml5zE8GBi1GptMl48HMU0c7aOtLdncAVnfoU2deVif9bwGmNZIGsLqQrfRysHUBrwJMW8SpUb3A8ZpoJv7m6qnfReglYPVBXsPj91S0a8TtCqbD6Hgm0rfTZ81cHOCmWvDE2FWySQaegT2w/s4032/2E33EF63-B76A-4EC9-B12A-32A3F3EFB763_1_201_a.heic" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRFjh7TrIjbsp2jxoG97ZD1UhpFbiOL_EW1IdKZPkBsBno3Ml5zE8GBi1GptMl48HMU0c7aOtLdncAVnfoU2deVif9bwGmNZIGsLqQrfRysHUBrwJMW8SpUb3A8ZpoJv7m6qnfReglYPVBXsPj91S0a8TtCqbD6Hgm0rfTZ81cHOCmWvDE2FWySQaegT2w/s320/2E33EF63-B76A-4EC9-B12A-32A3F3EFB763_1_201_a.heic" width="320" /></a></div>I tried out the Vision Pro demo at my local Apple Store, today.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">BLUF: It's an impressively cool piece of wow. I'd equate it to a Tesla (separate the man from the machine). </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Today's 30-minute scripted demo highlighted most of its key features. When I put it on, it didn't feel like I was looking at a display... it seemed more like I was looking straight through the device at my surroundings. The 3D photos, movies, and the immersive experiences were phenomenal. I was impressed at how well the windows locked into place without moving in the slightest. However, I didn't get an opportunity to type anything or go off script. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3yBID6g-ZHFJwmv1LGJUrdRZ0ukLaYeTuLs69I4Ed8keQ-vXj0BH3GuNJVTynL9ew8iRVeLyjjqzqT3uvHC_5muDOAVWLIgugAtxGr_vn7aPvp8fgGdwHPFbY6ohQG_NxXp8uvbeIs87sAEen1Y5m6TQDbklIgMdG7oNF4QHVegHuSBVN0qdtG56kOve7/s4032/5CEBB03C-4D68-49D6-9AF5-494958644E2E.heic" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3yBID6g-ZHFJwmv1LGJUrdRZ0ukLaYeTuLs69I4Ed8keQ-vXj0BH3GuNJVTynL9ew8iRVeLyjjqzqT3uvHC_5muDOAVWLIgugAtxGr_vn7aPvp8fgGdwHPFbY6ohQG_NxXp8uvbeIs87sAEen1Y5m6TQDbklIgMdG7oNF4QHVegHuSBVN0qdtG56kOve7/s320/5CEBB03C-4D68-49D6-9AF5-494958644E2E.heic" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> Vision Pro demo area with eyeglasses Rx reader</td></tr></tbody></table>At the end of the day, I can see where spatial computing is going. We're seeing tomorrow's ideas implemented using today's technology. This is Apple's worst version of any spatial computing device they'll design. Future versions will continue to improve, so I'm eager to see where this leads us. </span></div>Joe Morenohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15012979041398989021noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4480397542391453086.post-34387345960446580882024-01-09T09:41:00.000-08:002024-01-12T09:37:24.824-08:00iPhone Announcement Anniversary <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2jLEBh0eeF4qlTVbfKA2SkPHPS71RD12t-K7huXRVqYfZY2WhnRxH2g7sIps7vd9fr7s1060vgVDU4TcxjMkCn2ix6JHNSgjonTVe5M-OKTAPjyL26T0mb34h4vKn7PHHir6oRarU4fSxp2IyUDlG047hRWSdprug08kx0IDhiJ9F-1f8uDEEPs2r8RjN/s2048/IMG_0227_2.JPG" style="clear: right; display: inline; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1814" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2jLEBh0eeF4qlTVbfKA2SkPHPS71RD12t-K7huXRVqYfZY2WhnRxH2g7sIps7vd9fr7s1060vgVDU4TcxjMkCn2ix6JHNSgjonTVe5M-OKTAPjyL26T0mb34h4vKn7PHHir6oRarU4fSxp2IyUDlG047hRWSdprug08kx0IDhiJ9F-1f8uDEEPs2r8RjN/s320/IMG_0227_2.JPG" width="283" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">January 10, 2007</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>The first iPhone was announced 17 years ago, today, </span><span>approximately 41 minutes into Steve Jobs's MacWorld Keynote address. This is the reason that Apple ads display 9:41 AM in their marketing materials. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">At the time, I was working as a software engineer at the <a href="http://store.apple.com" target="_blank">Apple Online Store</a>. Like everyone else, I was surprised and amazed at the product announcement. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The next day, I printed out a color image of the iPhone, glued it to corrugated cardboard, and sent photos of me holding it to friends joking that I had an actual iPhone and pointing out that the photo wasn't photoshopped. (The iPhone wouldn't ship until six months later.) My coworker and I even took photos of us holding the cardboard cutout in front of 1 Infinite Loop.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I wouldn't see an actual iPhone in the wild until sometime later when I was in a meeting and Tim Cook walked in, pulled it out of his pocket and flashed it at us while saying, "This is so cool." We were all champing at the bit to get our hands on one.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p></p>Joe Morenohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15012979041398989021noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4480397542391453086.post-41230103616183271552024-01-04T09:11:00.000-08:002024-01-05T09:06:42.403-08:00A Love for Amazon<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtljiPsPbZb3YKgu7IKl1WOMKT33CIGeHU0ocLu4VN5x07IRBfMCBtkVURXpilzcXipjjQmIfrUgOfbCjPhpb9yYCuevQ4N5pTc9-r-X4nJeLTFpcz6TvYWgbYITxAvecspZa6zCG8Kwx7bvrWMxFOimHpk-1WdeFapgZFkh70Ldb40Wv0PXzc-xj9tjra/s1237/Amazon%20Blog%20Post%20Thermometer.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="989" data-original-width="1237" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtljiPsPbZb3YKgu7IKl1WOMKT33CIGeHU0ocLu4VN5x07IRBfMCBtkVURXpilzcXipjjQmIfrUgOfbCjPhpb9yYCuevQ4N5pTc9-r-X4nJeLTFpcz6TvYWgbYITxAvecspZa6zCG8Kwx7bvrWMxFOimHpk-1WdeFapgZFkh70Ldb40Wv0PXzc-xj9tjra/w200-h160/Amazon%20Blog%20Post%20Thermometer.png" width="200" /></a></div>Amazon has cracked the code on keeping customers.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">A coworker used to work at Amazon for four years. He told me that Jeff Bezos believed there was nothing more expensive than losing a customer. Hence, the reason why returns are so easy with Amazon, even though Amazon may eat those costs in the short term. Last night was no exception.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">AWS Hack</span></h3><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">In 2014, my <a href="http://blog.joemoreno.com/2014/04/5000-security-breach.html" target="_blank">Amazon Web Services account was hacked</a>. Ten days into the month, I noticed that my bill was already a thousand times larger than my typical bill. Amazon recognized the hack and gave me amnesty for the entire bill. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Spreading the Profits</span></h3><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span>Amazon had their first profitable quarter in the fourth quarter of 2001 when they earned $5 million in profit on revenues of over $1 billion.</span><a href="https://chat.openai.com/share/ca5d5c77-1447-493f-9199-2e962fcee22c" style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 36); font-family: "Google Sans", arial, sans-serif;" target="_blank">¹</a> Bezos wanted to share this profit with customers.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Tech companies typically don't pay dividends to investors. Even today, Amazon doesn't pay a dividend. But sharing profits with customers is very unusual. In this case, the profit shared with each customer amounted to less than $1/customer. As insignificant as that sounds, Bezos found a way to make it meaningful.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span>The price of a USPS First Class postage stamp was increasing in January 2002 from 34¢ to 37¢. </span><span>Back then, "snail mail" was much more popular than today; not everyone had an e-mail account.</span><span> Each price increase in postage was a challenge before April 2007 when the post office introduced the </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-denominated_postage#Forever_stamps" target="_blank">Forever Stamp</a><span>. Before the Forever Stamp, a person had to buy 1¢ stamps to add to postage. This was a hassle and many people, including myself, would, for example, simply put two 34¢ stamps on a letter instead of a 34¢ stamp plus three 1¢ stamps. It seems like a waste of money but our personal time, to purchase additional 1¢ stamps, is worth something to each of us.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Bezos's solution was elegant. He recognized this inconvenience of needing to buy 1¢ stamps, so he had Amazon send a bunch of 1¢ stamps to their customers. I remember thinking how brilliant this was when I received them.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Last Night</span></h3><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Two days ago, I received my shingles #2 and pneumonia vaccines. The shingles second vaccine is the same as the first one, which I received on its own, without much discomfort. But, yesterday, I felt sick and I feared Covid because, on New Year's Day, I had breakfast with someone who tested positive for Covid, the next day – the same day I received my vaccines.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I took my temperature yesterday morning and it was fine – no fever. In the evening, when I took it, my thermometer was displaying a fever of 100.7°F. But the display was blinking which meant the battery was too low for a reliable reading. I looked on Amazon for a replacement battery. But there was no practical option that would arrive in time plus I couldn't buy a single battery which would be a waste.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Instead, I ordered a new thermometer around 6 PM and I paid an extra $3 so it would be delivered the next morning between 4AM and 8 AM. However, to my surprise, Amazon delivered it about an hour later. I took my temperature with the new thermometer and all was well – no fever. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">It's unusual for Amazon to move up a delivery by one day. I'm speculating that they know, if someone is paying extra for a faster delivery, for a medical item, that it's urgently needed. So, it seems they were able to expedite my delivery to give me peace of mind. I greatly appreciate that and it pays to live very close to downtown San Diego.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>Joe Morenohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15012979041398989021noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4480397542391453086.post-76056645872362901302023-12-23T13:24:00.000-08:002023-12-23T13:24:14.008-08:00Failure: How to do it Right<p><span style="font-size: large;">There are <a href="https://youtu.be/Gb9tjnJWu5g" target="_blank">three types of failure</a>:</span></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">1. Basic</span></h3><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">These are simple, common mistakes.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">2. Complex</span></h3><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Failures involving a lot of moving parts where many circumstances or factors couldn't have been foreseen.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">3. Intelligent</span></h3><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">This is where new knowledge or discovery comes from.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span> a. Exploring new t</span>erritory </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span> b. Pursing a new goal</span><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span><span> c. </span>Hypothesis-driven </span>experimentation</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span><span> d. Fail as small as possible</span><br /></span></span></div>Joe Morenohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15012979041398989021noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4480397542391453086.post-91207833396414705322023-12-23T13:03:00.000-08:002023-12-26T11:43:32.910-08:00What is Marketing?<p><span style="font-size: large;">1. Put up a sign in a common place with a call to action: <b>Advertising</b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">2. Put a sign in an uncommon place: <b>Promotion</b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">3. Have the news spread your message: <b>Publicity</b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">4. Have the government or other public entities talk about you: <b>Public relations</b> </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">5. Highlight benefits and features while answering questions about your product or service to convince people to buy it: <b>Sales</b> </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">If you planned these five things: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/C03lHD0S_OQ/" target="_blank">That’s <b>Marketing</b></a></span></p><div><br /></div>Joe Morenohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15012979041398989021noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4480397542391453086.post-15912640122013493942023-11-27T12:00:00.000-08:002023-12-25T11:19:04.452-08:00Vipassana Meditation, Part 2: Six Months Later<p><span style="font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div>Part 1: <a href="http://blog.joemoreno.com/2023/05/vipassana-meditation.html" target="_blank">Vipassana Meditation</a></div><div style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOHST6zsb7ylpYh8ww35765lDAkmTt-lQK0Vi6nhzQQW_5ymJf8mrMz1TsKjvUv4TFm5bVv7YX4Qp8yu1xNEbCtVgxtkVQP6Wl94gPxTNXjRUpNuHO2CxMR8XB5GKIxVMVAddifI0N7kOfmMPT8Dofs-hAFCEcvH-srpcIzNnQphZTu-bnf11yAiJ9_VHC/s1024/C2B41CFD-CF77-432F-A706-5BD043A9381E.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOHST6zsb7ylpYh8ww35765lDAkmTt-lQK0Vi6nhzQQW_5ymJf8mrMz1TsKjvUv4TFm5bVv7YX4Qp8yu1xNEbCtVgxtkVQP6Wl94gPxTNXjRUpNuHO2CxMR8XB5GKIxVMVAddifI0N7kOfmMPT8Dofs-hAFCEcvH-srpcIzNnQphZTu-bnf11yAiJ9_VHC/w200-h200/C2B41CFD-CF77-432F-A706-5BD043A9381E.png" width="200" /></a></span>I became interested in meditation at the beginning of this year. In May, I completed a ten-day course on Vipassana in the Mojave Desert. The course is completely free including room and board (it's donation based). I took a vow of silence, for ten days, while meditating for nearly ten hours each day. Now, six months later, I've had a chance to reflect on my experience as I've integrated Vipassana meditation into my life.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">While I don't meditate everyday, I still meditate most days for an hour in silence. Actually, it's not completely silent. The <a href="http://mobile.joemoreno.com/VipassanaMeditation60Minutes.mp3" target="_blank">unguided routine I follow</a>, over the course of an hour, begins and ends with a few minutes of chanting along with some comments sprinkled throughout the session. Since returning from May's course, I've tried different routines from 30 minutes to two hours and discovered that an hour is my sweet spot. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Sitting perfectly still without opening my eyes, mouth, or moving for an hour or two is now not a problem. At the Vipassana course I had an opportunity to try different positions. Sitting crossed legged in the lotus, half-lotus, or Burmese positions didn't work well for me because my legs would fall paralyzingly asleep. I discovered that a <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N97LSYE/" target="_blank">meditation bench</a> works beautifully to solve this problem. A meditation bench is a small bench that allows me to kneel on both knees, but instead of my butt resting on the back of my heels it's seated on a very low, small bench.</span></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Learning Anapana </span></h3><p><span style="font-size: large;">The ten-day course I attended followed a precise schedule. The teaching of the Vipassana technique doesn't begin until the fourth day. For the first three and a half days I meditated for ten hours each day focused solely on my breath passing in and out of my nose and how it felt on my upper lip. This practice is called <a href="https://www.vridhamma.org/What-is-Anapana" target="_blank">Anapana</a>.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>The third day was the hardest because focusing on my breathing and upper lip was mind numbingly boring. It only took a few minutes for my thoughts to quickly wander off so I had to accept this fact and </span><span>gently </span><span>bring my attention back to my breath. While doing this for ten hours a day my body was getting sore, tense, and fatigued. But that all changed with Vipassana.</span></span></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Learning Vipassana</span></h3><p><span style="font-size: large;">On the afternoon of the fourth day we gathered in the meditation hall to learn the beginnings of Vipassana meditation. For about 40 minutes, we practiced Anapana. My upper and lower back hurt and my ankles were sore. I could hear the all-too-common squirming of the other students as they continuously readjusted into temporarily more comfortable positions. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>Then the instructor told us to focus on a point on the top of our head</span><span>, rather than on our breath,</span><span> and simply observe how it felt. Over the course of the next 30 to 45 minutes I followed his guidance and moved this point from the top of my head down to my feet by spiraling around my head and then down my back and front. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">As my attention and point of focus moved, I could <i>feel</i> it on my skin. While this feeling isn't a physical force, the sensation is real. It's no different than focusing on the back of your hand for a minute or so and sensing, perhaps, the air moving over it, your hairs bristling, or the cuff of your long sleeve shirt resting on it. You didn't notice that sensation a few minutes ago, but now you do. Like blinking, you don't notice it until you explicitly pay attention.</span></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Revelation and Understanding</span></h3><p><span style="font-size: large;">I continued to move this point on my body and something amazing happened. As I focused and observed this point of attention move across the top of my back, over my painful shoulder, I clearly noticed the discomfort. But then, as I continued moving my attention down my back I noticed that my upper back was no longer tense.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">At first this didn't seem unusual since my discomfort during the previous days would come and go throughout a meditation session. However, understanding this "coming and going" is an important Vipassana concept called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impermanence#Buddhism" target="_blank">anicca</a> which means impermanence. In other words, realize and accept that everything is temporary and it will pass. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I continued following the instructor's guidance and moved my focus to my lower back which was also sore. Then, as I moved my focus away from my lower back to my legs and down to my feet, I noticed that my lower back had stopped bothering me. This got my attention. The same thing happened when I moved my focus to, and then away from, my sore ankles. My ankles were no longer bothering me.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I was never told to expect any of this, so it wasn't a subliminal psychosomatic reaction. Throughout the entire course, we weren't told to expect anything. A key lesson throughout the course was anti-expectation. Simply observe and accept our experiences without reacting.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I wanted to know if I was the only person experiencing this sensation and relief. But how could I find out? Due to my vow of silence, I couldn't speak with the other students. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">However, I quickly discovered that all of us experienced the same thing. At the end of this initial Vipassana session the entire class was no longer squirming. The room was still and silent. We all felt the calmness.</span></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">What Happened?</span></h3><p><span style="font-size: large;">I am a skeptical critic of new things. I wanted to know exactly what was happening. It turns out there were a couple of things going on. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">First was the realization, I mentioned above, that I explicitly felt a sensation on the part of my body where I focused my attention. As I indicated earlier, while this sensation I perceive in my mind is real there isn't anything physically happening on my skin. I'm simply paying attention to my body in a highly focused way.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">This attention to my body led to my second observation. When I focused on the unpleasant sensations, such as the pain in my back or in my ankles, I would unconsciously relax that part of my body and it would feel better. The pain and discomfort I was experiencing was of my own doing. We frequently do this to ourselves by tensing up during unpleasant experiences. We feel this when we shrug our shoulders while hunched over the computer or sitting with bad posture while focused on the work we're doing. We become hyper-focused on one thing without noticing its effects elsewhere. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">In the Marines, I had to implicitly learn how to deal with discomfort. At this Vipassana course, I was explicitly learning the same thing at a deeper level.</span></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Personal Goal</span></h3><p><span style="font-size: large;">I had a personal goal, when arriving at the Vipassana course, to meditate for two straight hours without moving. The best I could do, the first four days, was about 80 minutes. But, after learning Vipassana, I was able to meditate an entire two hours, each day, without moving, for the remainder of the course. It wasn't easy – there were times when I was hanging on by a thread – but I did it.</span></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">An Old Student of Vipassana</span></h3><p><span style="font-size: large;">During the next six days I learned how to refine and perfect the Vipassana technique of meditation. I went from initially visualizing a point moving along my skin, over the course of 30 or 40 minutes, to being able to sweep <i>through</i>, and scan, my entire body with each breath. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The Vipassana technique of meditation allows me to focus on every part of my body so I can "check in" and survey how it's feeling. Regardless of what I'm feeling when I meditate, I accept it without craving the good sensations or avoiding the bad ones.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">When our body feels good, our mind feels good; and repeatedly doing something purposely makes our mind feel good which makes our body feel good. It's a resonating cycle of equanimity.</span></p>Joe Morenohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15012979041398989021noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4480397542391453086.post-19129798248333758632023-11-20T19:50:00.000-08:002023-11-21T07:58:40.300-08:00Is the Move Away From Artist to AI a Repeat of the Industrial Revolution?<div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj76ZcykkZEhXQ2D2jQWShEOUaFKyB9XjUq9MRQTcZZazauMfsOhZVczfpxtS4uERUdBOja8GBGJajrDZcCBXTSB9geqBFVsqGdh3gPxgUPWcczlmb69hL_v26RwmVv_rEQjqG7XIilrjKuwP2RBLI2znN1k-JS18vHdODSPlTPCJR8QVcsfK3aQFSIsAKr/s1024/584E24F1-4EB3-473F-96F7-C9315FF6B82C_1_201_a.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj76ZcykkZEhXQ2D2jQWShEOUaFKyB9XjUq9MRQTcZZazauMfsOhZVczfpxtS4uERUdBOja8GBGJajrDZcCBXTSB9geqBFVsqGdh3gPxgUPWcczlmb69hL_v26RwmVv_rEQjqG7XIilrjKuwP2RBLI2znN1k-JS18vHdODSPlTPCJR8QVcsfK3aQFSIsAKr/s320/584E24F1-4EB3-473F-96F7-C9315FF6B82C_1_201_a.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-size: large;">Is the move away from artist to AI a repeat of the industrial revolution? Progress, through <a href="http://blog.joemoreno.com/2013/08/human-innovation-in-high-tech.html" target="_blank">innovation</a>, is a hard force to stop.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">The industrial revolution is when the master/apprentice system of building was replaced by product cloning. This era shifted us away from a time when unique crafts were built by a master and taught to an apprentice. [These craftsmen may have called themselves <i>artists</i> – but their work was not the <a href="http://blog.joemoreno.com/2018/07/the-story-of-artist.html" target="_blank">purest form of art</a>. Art with function is actually design.]</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Keep in mind that art may seem “unneeded”… it might be easy to dismiss art. “Why do we need the <i>David</i> or the <i>Mona Lisa</i>? Who needs a particular song?" What if we got something equally as artistic, but different? Would anyone miss it?</span></div><p><span style="font-size: large;">Alas…Think you don’t need art? Try to get through a pandemic without the artists’ creativity to fill your mind. The artist will take you from deep in their soul to a world away.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO4L47_8PqBwI0ps8OQx_hkH2DtRpAvhmI42HwQHIN_aOmS8IOTDRAEmh3mOkXjGBcWgRG7JZgflmPK8zmE8aq2D0aiDwo3lkMIEr0xa8O3iMaz5-grhqMOeFKceiW0ZSDjGZ7Ak1N2HFpOHRTJzVWO4YJqGEWNzyS8riJnpXYVKvRULh5o7MhOYYmtAhK/s1792/3E6F1968-AFC4-41D8-99A4-24A8428B65BB.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1792" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO4L47_8PqBwI0ps8OQx_hkH2DtRpAvhmI42HwQHIN_aOmS8IOTDRAEmh3mOkXjGBcWgRG7JZgflmPK8zmE8aq2D0aiDwo3lkMIEr0xa8O3iMaz5-grhqMOeFKceiW0ZSDjGZ7Ak1N2HFpOHRTJzVWO4YJqGEWNzyS8riJnpXYVKvRULh5o7MhOYYmtAhK/w400-h229/3E6F1968-AFC4-41D8-99A4-24A8428B65BB.png" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;">The medium and methods may keep changing – sometimes drastically – but the artist will always be there to awe and entertain us. And we will evolve to adapt. We have an excellent track record for surviving unprecedented times. But we can't always beat the odds. The house always wins. So, we must skeptically embrace transformational ideas. A new, good idea ineffectively adopted is a bad a idea.</span><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div>Endnote: This is my first blog post using custom generated AI images to accompany a piece.<br /><p></p><div><br /></div></div>Joe Morenohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15012979041398989021noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4480397542391453086.post-48357328345941907322023-11-09T08:26:00.005-08:002023-11-09T08:26:42.745-08:00Algorithm vs Model<p><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue";"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Algorithm:</b> Step-by-step instructions. These instructions can be written down on paper or programmed into a computer.</span></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: large; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal;"><b>Model:</b> A model </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue; font-size: large;">analyzes data to determine patterns, relationships, and behaviors based on that data.</span></p>Joe Morenohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15012979041398989021noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4480397542391453086.post-15782753791563646792023-09-22T11:04:00.006-07:002023-09-22T11:14:46.136-07:00TypeScript Origins: The Documentary<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span>I watched yesterday’s 80 minute TypeScript documentary,<i> <a href="https://youtu.be/U6s2pdxebSo" target="_blank">TypeScript Origins: The Documentary</a></i>. </span><span>TypeScript is a superset of JavaScript that transpiles, with static typing, into JavaScript so it can run inside a web browser.</span></span></div><p><span style="font-size: large;">The enlightening part of this documentary is that it starts with Microsoft employees talking about what a paradigm shift it was for Microsoft to embrace open source software development. It highlights the differences in leadership between Gates/Ballmer and Satya Nadella who took over as CEO in 2014. Nadella saw the importance and power of goodwill with open source while transitioning the company to providing cloud services. That’s a huge culture shift for a behemoth company like Microsoft which is one of the largest companies in the world. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">It’s interesting to see how a company, like Google, has shifted away from, “Don't be evil,” while Microsoft has become more open and supportive of the developer community. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"></span></p><center><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="284" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/U6s2pdxebSo?si=q_dXrIjv9lHHEUl3" title="YouTube video player" width="504"></iframe></center>Joe Morenohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15012979041398989021noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4480397542391453086.post-79014201711761468892023-09-04T12:20:00.008-07:002023-12-25T11:22:34.178-08:00Everything They Wanted to Be <ol class="ol1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><li class="li1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Java became what Ada wanted to be. Write once, run everywhere. </span></li><br /><li class="li1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">Javascript became what Java <span style="font-size: 18.549999px;">applets </span>wanted to be. Mobile code in a web browser.</span></li><br /><li class="li1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">REST became what SOAP wanted to be. Remote procedure calls with data over the Web.</span></li><br /><li class="li1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.6px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.55px;">JSON became what XML wanted to be. Human readable, machine to machine data exchange.</span></li></ol>Joe Morenohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15012979041398989021noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4480397542391453086.post-32084017106437169722023-07-28T14:33:00.003-07:002023-07-28T14:42:08.057-07:00 /^1?$|^(11+?)\1+$/ <p><span style="font-size: large;">Here's a fascinating Regular Expression for identifying prime numbers:</span></p><p><b><span style="font-size: large;">/^1?$|^(11+?)\1+$/</span></b></p><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size: large;">A Regular Expression is a sequence of characters that specifies a match pattern in text. For example, it could be used when writing code for a website to detect if someone entered a properly formatted phone number, ZIP code, etc.</span><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Instead of entering numbers in base 10 or binary (base 2), this Regular Expression uses the unary numeral system (base 1). Base 1 is probably how the earliest humans first counted. 111 = 3, 11111111 = 8, etc.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">It seems the more I learn about Regular Expressions, the less I know. 🤷♂️</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Here's a ten minute explainer video that demos <a href="http://regex101.com/" rel="noopener nofollow noreferrer" target="_blank">regex101.com</a> for testing Regular Expressions.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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</center>Joe Morenohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15012979041398989021noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4480397542391453086.post-54975881387604660582023-06-09T12:05:00.012-07:002023-06-10T08:30:18.539-07:00 Vision Pro Observations<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNecGXrFedGU5FWwH5zaefOAoItBnxg2cr81RX8jz3v239hBfAPVfc5iwL7PxE6c5YO7nTTKga5I-59Ke_fMonqsi0gYmE_yMRYvnkVEK49krkZX1m_ne_Pi6J4_Wxdge-5h1MyoIFDMTwqZzlDYEVwqswfUVq66U-lTovChYNjJZK9fkyvK2A8IfmwQ/s2532/548AECE1-8FBD-4AA6-B56A-F0B70DE3DFF4.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1170" data-original-width="2532" height="185" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNecGXrFedGU5FWwH5zaefOAoItBnxg2cr81RX8jz3v239hBfAPVfc5iwL7PxE6c5YO7nTTKga5I-59Ke_fMonqsi0gYmE_yMRYvnkVEK49krkZX1m_ne_Pi6J4_Wxdge-5h1MyoIFDMTwqZzlDYEVwqswfUVq66U-lTovChYNjJZK9fkyvK2A8IfmwQ/w400-h185/548AECE1-8FBD-4AA6-B56A-F0B70DE3DFF4.png" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>Apple's Vision Pro introduces spacial computing to consumers. But will it catch on?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Key benefit:</b> Integration of a computer with multiple, large screen displays in a three dimensional, interactive environment. This is the first standalone Apple product introduced by Tim Cook, as CEO, that isn't an add-on like the Apple Watch.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Price: </b>Starting at $3,500.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span>A</span>djusted for inflation, this is roughly the same cost as the Apple I computer released on April 11, 1977, which required assembly.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Price Comparison:</b> Comparable to HoloLens 2.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD8Cc6ErcsGRjVITyBYNsGadWXZUfvUMC-YmTu4LJSVblr5nQhNh9PDF7btUJAUAzd_xNBsXDYn9PtUnjK7coQW2eb_uNT9MAlVmUkcXE7inWGoffBwQlT5LoCKoYKsf6dExClZKyl0rfZKhNdVYtPgZGJ8B_GKgkXnt9KSYh6YMXR2mtwv7_zlnJBrA/s3667/EA013FEC-5A9E-46C1-9B83-2D18DAD6E2F7_1_201_a.heic" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2113" data-original-width="3667" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD8Cc6ErcsGRjVITyBYNsGadWXZUfvUMC-YmTu4LJSVblr5nQhNh9PDF7btUJAUAzd_xNBsXDYn9PtUnjK7coQW2eb_uNT9MAlVmUkcXE7inWGoffBwQlT5LoCKoYKsf6dExClZKyl0rfZKhNdVYtPgZGJ8B_GKgkXnt9KSYh6YMXR2mtwv7_zlnJBrA/w400-h230/EA013FEC-5A9E-46C1-9B83-2D18DAD6E2F7_1_201_a.heic" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Personal Thoughts:</b> This is version one of a prosumer product in an entire new area of personal computing and human-machine interactions. Keep in mind that the Pro designation implies it's not a low-end consumer device. While smartphones have virtually connected while physically isolating individuals, the Apple Vision Pro certainly does an impressive job of <a href="http://joemoreno.com/AppleVisionProInteration.png" target="_blank">making remote people feel more present while interacting</a>. Apple also has been thoughtful about how others see and interact with the user. Specifically, when people approach a person using the Vision Pro, the user can see them. Additionally, a person can see the eyes of the Vision Pro user they're interacting with. In other words, the outward facing display is solely for the benefit of others. A nice touch.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Will it catch on? Time will tell.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>Joe Morenohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15012979041398989021noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4480397542391453086.post-51700175020269669692023-05-28T12:08:00.005-07:002023-11-28T13:24:58.994-08:00Vipassana Meditation, Part 1<p><span>Part 2: <a href="http://blog.joemoreno.com/2023/11/vipassana-meditation-part-2-six-months.html" target="_blank">Vipassana Meditation, Part 2: Six Months Later</a> </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">A few months ago I became interested in meditation.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Today, I returned from a ten-day silent retreat in the desert city of Twentynine Palms, California where we learned the Vipassana silent meditation technique. This technique involves a remarkably impressive method of visualization.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIfN_YA7CkNy9F_WfzaYCQk7Hzf4ISiv2-YAOWNcgvhQv-8C-aUWvBxu3Wo_Xu2uBk5BwH3LSwBs_wOf1CCSPUwDS2fIbu9j9g_kYSbF287tQ9wYAfjI9XNXYaUL0ZXM07msTb77xif41DdZwlQbCuSetj9DaWaZXyRcTtmbewszCS5hlg1OkGEzVmOg/s1024/D67C44F4-7804-44AD-BBCC-A8A492CC1694_1_105_c.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIfN_YA7CkNy9F_WfzaYCQk7Hzf4ISiv2-YAOWNcgvhQv-8C-aUWvBxu3Wo_Xu2uBk5BwH3LSwBs_wOf1CCSPUwDS2fIbu9j9g_kYSbF287tQ9wYAfjI9XNXYaUL0ZXM07msTb77xif41DdZwlQbCuSetj9DaWaZXyRcTtmbewszCS5hlg1OkGEzVmOg/s320/D67C44F4-7804-44AD-BBCC-A8A492CC1694_1_105_c.jpeg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;">For the last 10+ days, a group of about 80 of us literally lived like Buddhist monks & nuns that involved the following code of discipline:</span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">1. No talking (Noble Silence, in other words we took a vow of silence where we, the students, never spoke amongst ourselves. This included no hand gestures, signaling, or eye contact. I only spoke about two sentences, each day, to my instructors and some days I literally didn’t speak a single sentence.)</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">2. No contact with the outside world. (No phones, no electronics, etc. We turned over our phones and car keys at the beginning of the course and didn’t get them back until the end of the tenth day.)</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">3. No reading</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">4. No writing</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">5. No exercising </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">6. No rituals</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">7. No stealing</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">8. No lying</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">9. No sexual activity </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">10. No intoxicants</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz0EJzbV9LVKJTSLJstL0ZtsqZDQqVBURK4l3-TMs5DiNA7IYUF4RPCXTC4QCWSE98jps2LvtIMXajfip7-rc1-2NEJCsujoyo0cDOkmlB0WgfwmNK4rsIUCKZQziqwuVJZWVUcqtFZRD5cwJHJc1yza5aMgml9HG74NKlzTKwNvgm7FC-68xHTj8cpw/s1186/7F18E1DF-3819-4EA6-B120-FC1EB9C4FD80.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1186" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz0EJzbV9LVKJTSLJstL0ZtsqZDQqVBURK4l3-TMs5DiNA7IYUF4RPCXTC4QCWSE98jps2LvtIMXajfip7-rc1-2NEJCsujoyo0cDOkmlB0WgfwmNK4rsIUCKZQziqwuVJZWVUcqtFZRD5cwJHJc1yza5aMgml9HG74NKlzTKwNvgm7FC-68xHTj8cpw/s320/7F18E1DF-3819-4EA6-B120-FC1EB9C4FD80.png" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;">For ten hours a day, for ten days, we meditated. A gong woke us up at 4 am, each morning, and we began the day with two straight hours of meditation at 4:30 am. The final daily meditation ended at 9 pm. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">For ten days, no one left the training center compound (unless they quit or were expelled). Fortunately, there were walking paths through the desert within the grounds.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Why did I attend? </b>Simply to learn this technique of meditation.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The course is 100% free including full room and board (breakfast, lunch, and a late afternoon tea break). It’s strictly donation-based. And donations are only accepted from students who have completed the course. Vipassana has close ties to Buddhism. Keep in mind that Buddhism is a philosophy practice, not a religion, making the Vipassana meditation technique highly compatible with most any other religion, including atheism.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b>What do I think of the experience?</b> It far exceeded my expectations.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">It was grueling to sit for hours and mind-numbing to only focus on your breath and body, but it was so well worth it. It became easier and more rewarding as the days went by. Every single person was glowing at the end of the course, when Noble Silence ended (jokingly called “noble chatter”). I have no plans to become a Buddhist but I’m definitely eager to continue the Vipassana meditation technique. </span></p><p>
</p><center><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="284" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iMbrecoG_jM" title="YouTube video player" width="504"></iframe></center> <p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Now please excuse me while I take some time to catch up on my 294 unread e-mails, along with 68 text messages and a host of other social media notifications and voicemails.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">More about Vipassana here: <a href="https://www.dhamma.org/en/about/code" target="_blank">https://www.dhamma.org/en/about/code</a></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>A new Twentynine Palms course begins about every two weeks: </span><span><a href="https://www.dhamma.org/en-US/schedules/schvaddhana" target="_blank">https://www.dhamma.org/en-US/schedules/schvaddhana</a></span><span> </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlakTZAVw6D-9zeIjbZ__9PvBXpTQba5BYOJbBPJY5TG-O-tg_K4peSFmvT0XgWfkYhXFL6JvB765A69RtqRZfZ0Cs-6X386Ig9T9YWjl19mDshAZLV-gg7lZ5QOhBe4uYnCH4CEXunPJWbXx3HWHmgl8fj9wmbBqt6rJ6Yx-yvi3o_CWSBT4PWJCGWqe8/s3665/AACF7AC0-81C7-4548-93EC-3970216DE9BD_1_201_a.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2748" data-original-width="3665" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlakTZAVw6D-9zeIjbZ__9PvBXpTQba5BYOJbBPJY5TG-O-tg_K4peSFmvT0XgWfkYhXFL6JvB765A69RtqRZfZ0Cs-6X386Ig9T9YWjl19mDshAZLV-gg7lZ5QOhBe4uYnCH4CEXunPJWbXx3HWHmgl8fj9wmbBqt6rJ6Yx-yvi3o_CWSBT4PWJCGWqe8/w400-h300/AACF7AC0-81C7-4548-93EC-3970216DE9BD_1_201_a.jpeg" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /><span><br /></span></span><p></p>Joe Morenohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15012979041398989021noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4480397542391453086.post-47732118031340462682023-03-30T09:21:00.002-07:002023-03-30T09:21:20.132-07:00Automating ETL = DataOps<div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-size: large;">In the 1980s and 1990s, software engineers developed software and then a different group manually operationalized it by either putting it on floppy disks/CDs or deploying it to a server. With the advent of cloud computing, this manual process became automated and the best practices were defined as DevOps. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">With the proliferation of data, and the large amount of information that can be generated even from metadata, the consumption of it can no longer be done manually, in the form of ETL (Extract, Transform, Load), to remain competitive. So, similar to DevOps, DataOps is a key part of automating the process of ETL which enhances data analytics. </span></div>Joe Morenohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15012979041398989021noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4480397542391453086.post-47837129840939376522023-03-20T08:48:00.003-07:002023-03-20T08:52:33.047-07:00How Will Education Adapt to AIs like ChatGPT?<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSEEVLy4MnnR1fuO0A3TGL10v7o5jreZ0lgzh6sAtoFGRlW5H6JlquZ3RB73iLPfRGYVUTjnC3vQ2EgU9O3_NGHgEZiiiSKt6MbG-aPmxgWy89XRnnpXM2O0o9uh6cLtJtye-K_8nxzQpXTGaXswBt6nGgtJElQtxRXPc47_ug41exs8aXItpotoyIeA/s1374/Screenshot%202023-03-20%20at%2008.47.46.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1328" data-original-width="1374" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSEEVLy4MnnR1fuO0A3TGL10v7o5jreZ0lgzh6sAtoFGRlW5H6JlquZ3RB73iLPfRGYVUTjnC3vQ2EgU9O3_NGHgEZiiiSKt6MbG-aPmxgWy89XRnnpXM2O0o9uh6cLtJtye-K_8nxzQpXTGaXswBt6nGgtJElQtxRXPc47_ug41exs8aXItpotoyIeA/w200-h193/Screenshot%202023-03-20%20at%2008.47.46.png" width="200" /></a></div>It's so very interesting to see how society adapts to technology. I'm sure, a hundred years from now, people will look back at us and say, "What was the big deal about AI?" since they would have grown up with it.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">When the camera was invented, it was thought that <a href="https://youtu.be/G08hY8dSrUY?t=122" target="_blank">a photo couldn't be copyrighted</a> because there was nothing "created." Obviously, that legal opinion has changed.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">We teach Driver's Ed in school, because teens need to learn how to drive in society, but we don't teach "horse maintenance" because we no longer use horses as out primary means of transportation. I'm sure our grandparents were looked down upon by their grandparents for learning to drive and not riding a horse.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Public education teaches personal hygiene, like how to brush your teeth. Now they teach digital hygiene like how to pick a strong password or not leak private data.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">It'll take some trial and error, but I'm sure K-12 will eventually figure it out, but only after society, as a whole, figures it out.</span></div>Joe Morenohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15012979041398989021noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4480397542391453086.post-62983972397103740772023-03-14T04:00:00.001-07:002023-03-14T04:00:00.153-07:00Encryption: Air Force One & the Police<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf3JwNXAcb6CCZJlntKfqJPzyowHbGAD5I2PoeEyQrVFhZbGmJ2ZORPMQqhECOTEC3wjN1IufGlelRbYoJ1ZzzNbFETldaAvmC_W7z35AxC4WCds9bCjJOlMWOWdQkjTs0aLtyNgia3eJJsAZ9UvFKebsMP_YtCewU-udRUazc3FRssMRmCnhhdxNvtw/s3888/Air_Force_One_(3378957327).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2592" data-original-width="3888" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf3JwNXAcb6CCZJlntKfqJPzyowHbGAD5I2PoeEyQrVFhZbGmJ2ZORPMQqhECOTEC3wjN1IufGlelRbYoJ1ZzzNbFETldaAvmC_W7z35AxC4WCds9bCjJOlMWOWdQkjTs0aLtyNgia3eJJsAZ9UvFKebsMP_YtCewU-udRUazc3FRssMRmCnhhdxNvtw/s320/Air_Force_One_(3378957327).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Most people don't realize that, for general communications, Air Force One and the police don't use encryption when transmitting over the radio. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">While Air Force One certainly has encryption capable radios on board, it still has to communicate with civilian air traffic controllers (ATC). So anyone can listen in.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">In 2012, when I was flying my plane from NJ to San Diego, I ended up on the same frequency as Air Force One while flying by Columbus, OH as the president was landing while on a campaign trip. My copilot, who was a commercial pilot, commented that that was a first for him.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Civilians can purchase police scanners to monitor police activity. However, police departments are now moving to encrypted communications to maintain the privacy of citizens. Imagine being pulled over, in another state, and the cop can't run your license on his squad car laptop. So, instead, he has to call it in over the radio, reading your name, home address, etc. Encrypted communications for law enforcement is probably a good idea. </span></div>Joe Morenohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15012979041398989021noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4480397542391453086.post-52612430338151640982023-03-13T04:30:00.002-07:002023-12-25T11:29:28.932-08:00Entrepreneur Syndrome<div style="text-align: left;"><div><span style="font-size: large;">Over the past 25 years, I’ve personally noticed something that I now call <i>entrepreneur syndrome</i>.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">In a nutshell, these are wannabe entrepreneurs (nearly always solopreneurs) who spend all of their time going through the motions of entrepreneurship without ever generating revenue by bringing a product or service to market. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Instead of selling, entrepreneur syndrome sufferers end up being very "busy" working on things they like doing and telling people about it, especially through social media. They have the title of CEO on one or more “companies” with no employees, no marketing plan, and certainly no revenue. They love to work from wherever they want, like coffee shops, never earning a single cent. Their focus is on building, not boosting (marketing), or buying (selling).</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">In the end, what they're doing is OK, but what they're really doing is called a hobby, not a business.</span></div><div><br /></div></div>Joe Morenohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15012979041398989021noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4480397542391453086.post-58535134073375439582023-03-12T12:55:00.006-07:002023-03-12T13:17:23.719-07:00Silicon Valley Bank<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjtwDuiUzCO1n1Fr0vFVT7QjWZ4oy1oB5IT6iyCwll8I5xFsLP9JmaTprs5DbF9ViBBNXUNHRwsz5vWmOPMRLIp3Cf5vIXT4B-IId3Fnmr7JhtVYxIg2DZHkEF4Ba0VX1lwroqwlcexiKD9VjP8DZDrLadUAIv83dZ161MDhq5VwUDXmGRiR6xxy8wfA/s1590/Screenshot%202023-03-12%20at%2012.36.25.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1100" data-original-width="1590" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjtwDuiUzCO1n1Fr0vFVT7QjWZ4oy1oB5IT6iyCwll8I5xFsLP9JmaTprs5DbF9ViBBNXUNHRwsz5vWmOPMRLIp3Cf5vIXT4B-IId3Fnmr7JhtVYxIg2DZHkEF4Ba0VX1lwroqwlcexiKD9VjP8DZDrLadUAIv83dZ161MDhq5VwUDXmGRiR6xxy8wfA/s320/Screenshot%202023-03-12%20at%2012.36.25.png" width="320" /></a></div>Tomorrow, the FDIC will allow access to Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) accounts up to the insured amount of $250,000. FDIC insurance is something that's not available in the crypto world (just ask <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Bankman-Fried" target="_blank">SBF</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FTX" target="_blank">FTX</a>). I'm guessing that all of SVB bank accounts will probably recoup at least 80% of their deposit when the dust settles. This is why billionaires buy many obscenely expensive homes since those investments can be insured to 100%.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Last week, the CEO of SVB <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/svb-chief-sold-3-6-233758987.html" target="_blank">sold $3.6 mm in stock</a> as part of a trading plan. I don't think there's much to see with the CEO's stock sales if the cash ended up in SVB, not some other bank. If not, he'll have a tough time explaining that. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Although I haven't had any personal experience with SVB, a good friend of mind did when he, as CEO of a startup, raised $2.5 mm about 15 years ago. Part of his fund raising deal was that SVB would loan his company $500K provided that all the funds were kept in a SVB account, which he did. In 2009, when times became tough, my buddy's startup had $600K in cash. This wasn't a problem until SVB invoked their MAC clause (material adverse change), swooped in, and pulled his $500K. Unfortunately, the corporation's fellow board members didn't want to fight SVB because they had other deals with the bank. In other words, these directors put their own business interests ahead of the corporations. But what can you do?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">My buddy didn't have kind words for SVB when I asked him for comments on Friday. </span></div>Joe Morenohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15012979041398989021noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4480397542391453086.post-46684250874969646652022-12-08T13:55:00.002-08:002022-12-08T13:55:58.645-08:00Depth-first Recursion with AI in 103 Seconds<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Once, when I was interviewing with the iTunes U team at Apple, I was asked to write a depth-first search, using recursion, in a language of my choice. I chose Java and proceeded to sketch out a tree on the whiteboard while keeping track of my stack on the side of the board.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">It took about 10 or 15 minutes. Then the hiring manager and I walked though the code and I was thrilled that I passed, especially since recursion is not my strongest area of coding.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Today, I used ChatGPT which was released eight days ago. It came up with three different solutions in less than two minutes. This is fascinating.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="284" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BQc9b_0wF00" title="YouTube video player" width="504"></iframe></center>Joe Morenohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15012979041398989021noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4480397542391453086.post-80017246809275810232022-11-25T14:35:00.006-08:002022-11-25T14:45:30.943-08:00Cloud Computing Services Defined<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">What is the cloud, both qualitatively and quantitatively and why is it called the cloud? </span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">It's simpler to answer the second part of that first, why is it called the cloud? Simply put, it's called the cloud because, like an electron cloud, you won't not know exactly where an item is located, such as a single e-mail. In other words, like there isn't a clear boundary similar to a the edges of a cloud in the sky.</span></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Qualitative</span></h3><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">This segues into a qualitative description of the cloud. In the 1990s, before the cloud, it was simple to point to a single, on-premises, server to identify where a single e-mail resided. Nowadays, with services like Gmail, there's no single server one can point to where an e-mail resides. This is because the subject line of a Gmail e-mail message might be on one server, while the text body of the e-mail is on a different server with each attachment residing on their own servers. A single e-mail is spread out across multiple servers. </span></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Quantitive </span></h3><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Qualitatively, the cloud model is composed of five essential characteristics, three service models, and four deployment models <a href="https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/Legacy/SP/nistspecialpublication800-145.pdf" target="_blank">defined by NIST</a>.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Five Essential Characteristics: </span></b></p>
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<li style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>On-demand self-service.</i></b><i> </i>A consumer can unilaterally provision computing capabilities, such as server time and network storage, as needed automatically without requiring human interaction with each service provider. <br />
</span></li>
<li style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>Broad network access.</i></b><i> </i>Capabilities are available over the network and accessed through standard mechanisms that promote use by heterogeneous thin or thick client platforms (e.g., mobile phones, tablets, laptops, and workstations). <br />
</span></li>
<li style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>Resource pooling.</i></b><i> </i>The provider’s computing resources are pooled to serve multiple consumers using a multi-tenant model, with different physical and virtual resources dynamically assigned and reassigned according to consumer demand. There is a sense of location independence in that the customer generally has no control or knowledge over the exact location of the provided resources but may be able to specify location at a higher level of abstraction (e.g., country, state, or datacenter). Examples of resources include storage, processing, memory, and network bandwidth. <br />
</span></li>
<li style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>Rapid elasticity. </i></b>Capabilities can be elastically provisioned and released, in some cases automatically, to scale rapidly outward and inward commensurate with demand. To the consumer, the capabilities available for provisioning often appear to be unlimited and can be appropriated in any quantity at any time. <br />
</span></li>
<li style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>Measured service.</i></b><i> </i>Cloud systems automatically control and optimize resource use by leveraging a metering capability at some level of abstraction appropriate to the type of service (e.g., storage, processing, bandwidth, and active user accounts). Resource usage can be monitored, controlled, and reported, providing transparency for both the provider and consumer of the utilized service. </span></li></ol>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Three Service Models:</span></b></p><ol>
<li style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Software as a Service (SaaS). </b>The capability provided to the consumer is to use the provider’s applications running on a cloud infrastructure. The applications are accessible from various client devices through either a thin client interface, such as a web browser (e.g., web-based email), or a program interface. The consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure including network, servers, operating systems, storage, or even individual application capabilities, with the possible exception of limited user- specific application configuration settings.<br />
</span></li>
<li style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Platform as a Service (PaaS).</b> The capability provided to the consumer is to deploy onto the cloud infrastructure consumer-created or acquired applications created using programming languages, libraries, services, and tools supported by the provider. The consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure including network, servers, operating systems, or storage, but has control over the deployed applications and possibly configuration settings for the application-hosting environment.<br />
</span></li>
<li style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). </b>The capability provided to the consumer is to provision processing, storage, networks, and other fundamental computing resources where the consumer is able to deploy and run arbitrary software, which can include operating systems and applications. The consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure but has control over operating systems, storage, and deployed applications; and possibly limited control of select networking components (e.g., host firewalls).</span></li></ol>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Four Deployment Models: <br />
</span></b></p>
<ol>
<li style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>Private cloud.</i></b><i> </i>The cloud infrastructure is provisioned for exclusive use by a single organization comprising multiple consumers (e.g., business units). It may be owned, managed, and operated by the organization, a third party, or some combination of them, and it may exist on or off premises. <br />
</span></li>
<li style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>Community cloud. </i></b>The cloud infrastructure is provisioned for exclusive use by a specific community of consumers from organizations that have shared concerns (e.g., mission, security requirements, policy, and compliance considerations). It may be owned, managed, and operated by one or more of the organizations in the community, a third party, or some combination of them, and it may exist on or off premises. <br />
</span></li>
<li style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>Public cloud.</i></b><i> </i>The cloud infrastructure is provisioned for open use by the general public. It may be owned, managed, and operated by a business, academic, or government organization, or some combination of them. It exists on the premises of the cloud provider. <br />
</span></li>
<li style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>Hybrid cloud</i>.</b> The cloud infrastructure is a composition of two or more distinct cloud infrastructures (private, community, or public) that remain unique entities, but are bound together by standardized or proprietary technology that enables data and application portability (e.g., cloud bursting for load balancing between clouds). </span></li></ol></div>Joe Morenohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15012979041398989021noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4480397542391453086.post-77466474000050424482022-11-10T11:11:00.001-08:002022-11-15T11:01:34.606-08:00 Veterans Day for Marines<p><span style="font-family: Arial; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_sTKtc2hVFVC9yWlY2G6MTvstaN7F7Q_KDi7Cd5QqN1XeDeRyIFSfNGBiGbY-7aTwO28OCM_qaNqd7AUW1bi71EaHR-sIsm5FYo2bA9CZOKG1I2Ka0aBcTPlYO3ahYL-gp0rLH1FocUburAwBg8_zm0MsXksXfXuPwVwLAUOvw84FBme3-Rj9oyuMig/s1010/Screenshot%202022-11-10%20at%2014.13.57.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="880" data-original-width="1010" height="174" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_sTKtc2hVFVC9yWlY2G6MTvstaN7F7Q_KDi7Cd5QqN1XeDeRyIFSfNGBiGbY-7aTwO28OCM_qaNqd7AUW1bi71EaHR-sIsm5FYo2bA9CZOKG1I2Ka0aBcTPlYO3ahYL-gp0rLH1FocUburAwBg8_zm0MsXksXfXuPwVwLAUOvw84FBme3-Rj9oyuMig/w200-h174/Screenshot%202022-11-10%20at%2014.13.57.png" width="200" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;">Every Marine knows the date, 10th of November, which makes the following day, Veterans Day, a bit different.</span><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-60df324a-7fff-6066-c6fe-0cdef5797f1d"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">Veterans have Veterans Day to commemorate their military service on the 11th of November. And the Marines have the Marine Corps Birthday to commemorate their roots, one day earlier. All active duty and former Marines will wish each other a happy birthday on the Marine Corps Birthday. Marines will also tell you that the timing of these two back-to-back American holidays is ideal since it gives Marines a day off after their Birthday Ball celebrations and festivities.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivL1C_ehSC2pZfIfbKn_0To_SIh6x-QNmSMsmvNzXEx9yySXsteIiWDUJISCYEbspI4pc12CI--3yJmmNF_1-EhiEcVehR2e-EI5ZrKOHceLvhyO5hRXTN0FaBJzOPyzh2tcoRkpeAUdd8Tfj5jVo0MbH2rJspXk_bjVnDBC38aTE0k6fqhgtbnftCwg/s876/Screenshot%202022-11-10%20at%2014.14.12.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="876" data-original-width="788" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivL1C_ehSC2pZfIfbKn_0To_SIh6x-QNmSMsmvNzXEx9yySXsteIiWDUJISCYEbspI4pc12CI--3yJmmNF_1-EhiEcVehR2e-EI5ZrKOHceLvhyO5hRXTN0FaBJzOPyzh2tcoRkpeAUdd8Tfj5jVo0MbH2rJspXk_bjVnDBC38aTE0k6fqhgtbnftCwg/w180-h200/Screenshot%202022-11-10%20at%2014.14.12.png" width="180" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;">America’s military is a unique breed of people who are called to serve, not only to protect their country, but, more importantly, they’re called to serve through their oath: to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. The distinction between country and Constitution is vital because it prioritizes the principles spelled out in the Constitution ahead of the desires of our citizens or the values we codify in laws.</span></span><p></p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMYzinkp1L6B8BlWS1_iJsbF8jOX7o1Tj-KWi4cZfWxmqxfO25GA58DQwm7uNS5IKBMw40Zg7rmRLTVG07x_K_3-H2zOxKszeOSOlqGMjfPGA1kh1aNpFMWZmz6LmBHd5yB6XRrT2pb8svNhsab4vsIpUo6zoroAYRVCOD-eMnFgw7QMoKmznqdexxBQ/s1398/Screenshot%202022-11-10%20at%2014.14.38.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="756" data-original-width="1398" height="173" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMYzinkp1L6B8BlWS1_iJsbF8jOX7o1Tj-KWi4cZfWxmqxfO25GA58DQwm7uNS5IKBMw40Zg7rmRLTVG07x_K_3-H2zOxKszeOSOlqGMjfPGA1kh1aNpFMWZmz6LmBHd5yB6XRrT2pb8svNhsab4vsIpUo6zoroAYRVCOD-eMnFgw7QMoKmznqdexxBQ/s320/Screenshot%202022-11-10%20at%2014.14.38.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span face=""Helvetica Neue", sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">A Unique Breed</span></span></h3><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">U.S. Marines are a unique breed of America’s military. While each of the military branches have different missions and specialties, one key fact that makes Marines different from the rest of the U.S. Armed Forces is that all Marines are combatants. They are all basic riflemen trained to locate, close with, and destroy the enemy by fire and maneuver, or repel the enemy's assault by fire and close combat. More specifically, the Marine Corps does not have doctors, dentists, chaplains, etc. However, since the Marines work so closely with the U.S. Navy (a separate military branch) they receive health and spiritual services from Navy doctors, medics (called corpsmen), chaplains, etc.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">Additionally, the Marines are a small, tightly integrated military corps with both tactical fixed-wing (fighter jets) and rotary-wing (helicopters) to support their ground troops. The U.S. Army only has tactical helicopters to support their ground troops. If the Army needs fixed-wing combat support, they’d call on the U.S. Air Force.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Helvetica Neue", sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Celebrations</span><span face=""Helvetica Neue", sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and Observances</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Veterans Day is officially observed with</span><a href="https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title36-section145&num=0&edition=prelim#sourcecredit" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">two minutes of silence</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> at 11:11 AM PST to commemorate the ending of WW I on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918. (It’s celebrated at 11:11 AM PST instead of EST so that all time zones in the United States can celebrate it simultaneously.) Additionally, dozens of</span><a href="https://www.military.com/veterans-day/events.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">parades and ceremonies</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> are held, throughout the country, along with</span><a href="https://www.military.com/veterans-day/veterans-day-military-discounts.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">deals, discounts, and freebies</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, to honor our Veterans.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrnl5f6AB7-JC3FnFjkcurlUV1kCa9hd1XkpiLWpdvSSUr0Ev3cmGaTOtb2nBobjZ9qo_4zN8YuU0BkHsKF6A0xNR7m97u2W63J19HhqA1npItsgIEhHtiQB0-q6iLvY8U0h__IlhkKZhelaKZBKHjdW03jDE0ueyf2ZkK39qYz0v0ymAqo6SM7sbGIA/s968/Screenshot%202022-11-10%20at%2014.14.24.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="968" data-original-width="840" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrnl5f6AB7-JC3FnFjkcurlUV1kCa9hd1XkpiLWpdvSSUr0Ev3cmGaTOtb2nBobjZ9qo_4zN8YuU0BkHsKF6A0xNR7m97u2W63J19HhqA1npItsgIEhHtiQB0-q6iLvY8U0h__IlhkKZhelaKZBKHjdW03jDE0ueyf2ZkK39qYz0v0ymAqo6SM7sbGIA/w174-h200/Screenshot%202022-11-10%20at%2014.14.24.png" width="174" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;">While Veterans Day is marked with two minutes of silence, the Marine Corps Birthday is observed with two hours of pageantry, throughout the world, at Marine Corps Birthday Balls. The highlight of the Marine Corps Ball is the cake cutting ceremony which follows a<a href="https://www.marines.mil/Portals/1/Docs/CAKE_CUTTING_SCRIPT.pdf" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">basic script</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> where the first piece of cake is presented to the guest of honor. The second piece of cake is given to the oldest Marine present who then presents the youngest Marine with the third piece of cake to symbolize the passing of experience, knowledge, and tradition from the old to the young.</span></span><div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">Even though active duty Marines aren’t yet veterans, they greatly appreciate having the next day, Veterans Day, off from work to rest up from the previous night’s celebrations. </span></span></p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">Semper Fi and thank you for your service. </span></span></p><br /></div>Joe Morenohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15012979041398989021noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4480397542391453086.post-20223068592780039862022-08-18T12:30:00.001-07:002023-12-25T11:33:37.099-08:00My First Quantum Computer Program<p><span style="font-size: large;">I ran my first program on a quantum computer, today.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I've run programs on quantum computer simulators in the past, but today was the first time I ran a program on an actual quantum computer. It wasn't anything special – my program simply simulated a coin flip. I guess that's the Hello World equivalent on a quantum computer.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">About a year and a half ago, I gave a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_VgGOicr4U" target="_blank">presentation</a> on quantum computing, which has always fascinated me. However, quantum computing is a lot like nuclear fusion or bitcoin in that it's not yet practical. We can see that these technologies are real and feasible, but they'll require some more engineering, both technically and socially, for them to be in widespread use.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Currently, quantum computers are at the stage that personal computers were in the early 1970s. The design and engineering involves circuits. Next step will be programs and then practical applications.</span></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">What I Did</span></h3><p><span style="font-size: large;">Today's program emulated a coin flip by passing a qubit through a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_logic_gate#Hadamard_gate" target="_blank">Hadamard gate</a> which puts the qubit into a superposition state. A Hadamard gate takes a qubit as input and its output has a seemingly random 50/50 chance of being |0> or |1> when measured. But what's fascinating about a Hadamard gate is that, if you take the output of from a Hadamard gate and pass it through another Hadamard gate then the qubit will always return to its original state.</span></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjC4nTWp7qXj9k6nUEewxYuJT2kEIMkOjUTNPH7ozmyHrStAJpIJKl5E3sR1VSmY4XNnkY8QFHmmxRLmYg0mxqenaNBbBQbA_hJMbZXwzEPczHLfxC0xkyw7Ntjeu6U734_QaSsT1OslLMlHsSU7dGGMS41umTK7eT11fB5N9uk8Y3hDhH7P--bZb3Kg/s778/Screen%20Shot%202022-08-18%20at%2012.16.39%20%20Thu,%2018%20Aug.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="414" data-original-width="778" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjC4nTWp7qXj9k6nUEewxYuJT2kEIMkOjUTNPH7ozmyHrStAJpIJKl5E3sR1VSmY4XNnkY8QFHmmxRLmYg0mxqenaNBbBQbA_hJMbZXwzEPczHLfxC0xkyw7Ntjeu6U734_QaSsT1OslLMlHsSU7dGGMS41umTK7eT11fB5N9uk8Y3hDhH7P--bZb3Kg/w400-h213/Screen%20Shot%202022-08-18%20at%2012.16.39%20%20Thu,%2018%20Aug.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My code snippet: Simulating the flip of a coin on an actual quantum computer</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">How I Did It</span></h3><p><span style="font-size: large;">Like a true script kiddie, I followed a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiczBAqku1I" target="_blank">YouTube tutorial</a>. I literally stopped the video when Toby showed her code, took a screen shot, imported the screen shot into the Apple Photos app, and then I copied and pasted the code from the photo into my web based text editor on <a href="https://lab.quantum-computing.ibm.com" target="_blank">IBM's Quantum Lab</a>. The code I wrote was in Python utilizing the Qiskit SDK and it was free to run on IBM's system; a bargain at twice the price.</span></p>Joe Morenohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15012979041398989021noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4480397542391453086.post-38263360276522466992022-08-15T18:36:00.008-07:002022-08-16T10:52:01.722-07:00Stolen Catalytic Converter<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXiZp-bGyZgffMXyNouUUr3ncn6GsKitpBPc_PthziNH0VHqzr-9sOenMOCnI-_CxCRsyIdSKKfLeBow9S8PuBIDC-wMV-4RZYHOg3SCnOHcOX1jsD_rnBuo7SEqBxU6hS7sbpdeSP73wXfQJ_rZAam9DfDqsfZ-YxFQNOpHvGXk5BdPJvKkKHGVmNcQ/s2875/2699AA7C-6973-4ADA-AA98-D00618CEDD1B_1_201_a.heic" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2240" data-original-width="2875" height="249" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXiZp-bGyZgffMXyNouUUr3ncn6GsKitpBPc_PthziNH0VHqzr-9sOenMOCnI-_CxCRsyIdSKKfLeBow9S8PuBIDC-wMV-4RZYHOg3SCnOHcOX1jsD_rnBuo7SEqBxU6hS7sbpdeSP73wXfQJ_rZAam9DfDqsfZ-YxFQNOpHvGXk5BdPJvKkKHGVmNcQ/s320/2699AA7C-6973-4ADA-AA98-D00618CEDD1B_1_201_a.heic" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My exhaust pipe, sans my catalytic converter</td></tr></tbody></table><br />My catalytic converter was stolen two months ago.</span></div><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I immediately knew it when I started the engine on my Honda Accord – it sounded like a Harley at red line. Coincidentally, my sister, who lives nearly 3,000 miles away, had her catalytic converter stolen from her Accord a few weeks later.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Thieves steal catalytic converters because they're easy targets under the chassis – there's no alarm or cage around them and they contain valuable precious medals like platinum, palladium, and rhodium. A replacement catalytic converter typically runs around $1,000. When you add in the labor, the price ends up over $1,500. My insurance company's bill came in over $2,000 out of their pocket when including the towing and car rental.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Replacing a catalytic converter isn't as simple as replacing other car parts, especially with California's anti-smog requirements. (If you've ever smelled the difference between the exhaust from a modern car and one made before 1975 then you've noticed the smog filtering effects of a catalytic converter.) New catalytic converters replacement parts are scarce because of the increase in thefts.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">In California, catalytic converters have to be approved for different car models. Every two years, I have to pay about $60 to have my Accord smog checked. This was never a problem until today when the smog inspector told me that my catalytic converter was "illegal in the state of California." The new, aftermarket, catalytic converter installed on my car did not match the approved family of catalytic converters according to the "Vehicle Emission Control Information."</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">In order to rectify this discrepancy I had to "<a href="http://asktheref.org" target="_blank">Ask the Referee</a>" if my catalytic converter was a suitable substitute. This entails making an appointment, typically two weeks in the future, for a free inspection to see if my catalytic converter passes muster. While the appointment is free, the penalty for missing an appointment is a 60-day delay until I could reschedule my next appointment; a very unfavorable situation since my registration expires in 42 days, which requires passing a smog check.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Fortunately, I lucked out when I called the <i>referee</i> since I was able to get an appointment, due to a cancellation, 90 minutes later today, with the stringent warning to not be late and the understanding that same-day cancellations would cost me a 60-day delay in rescheduling.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Although the inspection site was difficult to find because it was on a college campus which, like a military base, doesn't have buildings with GPS'able street addresses. But, in the end, it all worked out for me. That wasn't the case for the car owner ahead of me whose catalytic converter wasn't a suitable substitute. As soon as I received the sticker on my car door approving my catalytic converter, I returned to the same smog inspection station from earlier in the afternoon and passed my inspection. Now, the last step is for the California DMV to send me my new vehicle registration. </span></p>Joe Morenohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15012979041398989021noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4480397542391453086.post-55830905091109446332022-08-04T15:09:00.011-07:002022-08-22T07:25:47.371-07:00The Concept of Time<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCk14Lsgb8-YcJ8y9sMD49NqxwCOZLF4ta_uM1P8KosM7PARa6PYurIpYzBgNiHMzdgi8WGLx0X9S301mV4XceklZ-peeAq5bBaaVafZtJjX000s45ZkS1N6dyFzHDuqxH6_CP26goEyRSNBmA6DgrGzSnI_3WydjAA93RM-e0NqjuKp4ZkKS-oXDT2Q/s3743/FC6F6FE6-5F6F-41C9-A748-65AC36CB0152_1_201_a.heic" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3743" data-original-width="2733" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCk14Lsgb8-YcJ8y9sMD49NqxwCOZLF4ta_uM1P8KosM7PARa6PYurIpYzBgNiHMzdgi8WGLx0X9S301mV4XceklZ-peeAq5bBaaVafZtJjX000s45ZkS1N6dyFzHDuqxH6_CP26goEyRSNBmA6DgrGzSnI_3WydjAA93RM-e0NqjuKp4ZkKS-oXDT2Q/s320/FC6F6FE6-5F6F-41C9-A748-65AC36CB0152_1_201_a.heic" width="234" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">La Muse Verte Absinthe: A birthday gift to myself</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><div style="text-align: left;"><div>Time is the school in which we learn, </div><div>Time is the fire in which we burn.</div><div>– <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/42633/calmly-we-walk-through-this-aprils-day" target="_blank">Delmore Schwartz</a></div><div style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">On today, my birthday, I can't help but notice the passage of time.</span></div><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">But what is time? – I ask this question in a physical sense, not philosophically or metaphysically. </span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">There are certain realities of time. While it is relative to space and energy, it moves at an absolute pace in any given frame of reference. Whether I'm here on Earth or outside an event horizon or traveling near the speed of light, time will always pass at the rate of one second, every second. In other words, when I look at my wristwatch, time will run perfectly normal, regardless of my motion.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">We speak of time as being a fourth dimension of space, i.e. spacetime, but it's not "real" like the three dimensions of space. Rather, time is an emergent property. While we observe, in our personal experiences, cause and effect such as a glass breaking, we don't see that same, one way flow, at the subatomic level.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">This is similar to ocean tides on Earth. There is no physical "tide property" of water. Tides only emerge when we collect a lot of it and introduce other forces such as gravity from the sun and moon along with the Earth's rotation, i.e. it's an emergent property. </span></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">What is Time?</span></h3><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Time is literally nothing more than the passage of events – it's neither energy nor physical. Think of it as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electron_hole" target="_blank">hole flow</a> in an electrical circuit. We measure time by the ticking of a watch's second hand. Imagine the universe's clock as the motion of atoms, such as an electron orbiting an atom's nucleus. The motion of matter marks time similar to a computer's clock ticking off cycles for the CPU. Different computer clocks move at different rates, and time also moves at different rates depending on how much energy is around it. In your frame of reference, a watch's second hand will always tick away one second, every second, no matter if you're at rest or moving close to the speed of light.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">In the presence of huge amounts of energy, time literally slows down, from the perspective of an outside observer. This is simply due to the atoms, in the presence of large amounts of energy, struggling to move through this <i>energy molasses</i>. But, since all the atoms in this frame of reference experience the same slowing, everything looks normal. Imagine if all the clocks and watches (and atoms) in your home slowed down because they had dirt or grit in the "gears" – everything would continue to seem normal even though things are moving slower. But, to an outside observer, your passage of time would be different.</span></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Time Travel?</span></h3><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">So, is time travel is possible? Absolutely not. You can slow down how fast time passes, but that's about it; you can't speed it up. The concept of traveling through time to a different period makes as much sense as traveling through tides (or love, etc). While we know what causes the flow of the time or tides, it is, as I mentioned earlier, an emergent property. </span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">For time travel to be possible, every particle in the universe would have to move in the opposite direction (backwards). Doing this would move the entire universe back to an earlier state that it was in. However, the atoms in your body would still need to move forward. So, while the universe is moving backwards, your being is moving forward and that would allow you to travel backwards in time. Then, at some point, to return to the present you left, you'd need to slow down all the particles in the universe and/or speed up the particle motion in your body to catch up. </span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Changing the state of the entire universe simply isn't possible. There is only one state of the universe, The Now.</span></p><p></p>Joe Morenohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15012979041398989021noreply@blogger.com1