The New Flickr

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Dear internet.. We <3 you -Flickr

 

Here are some points on the new flickr update:

This update is long overdue. The update is good, probably a much needed update, but at least three years too late. Three years ago this would have been revolutionary, but today it seems to be following the latest trend. Don’t get me wrong, the trend is good (from my perspective) but it is following the trend.

The update was poorly initiated. You have to forgive flickr for not being up to speed on how these things happen. They have only had one or two major updates since the site began over 10 years ago. Over the years, Facebook has learned that it needs to announce changes and allow people the opportunity to try them out and opt into them before they throw the switch. Surprised updates are what kill. People don’t know it’s coming and the initial reaction is always going to be “put it back I didn’t ask for this what is this I don’t even”.

Whenever you make a change you need to ignore the initial reaction and wait for the calmer heads to prevail. You need to allow a few days or weeks for people to go through the grieving process and realize what changes are actually for the best. (Granted, you’ll want to keep up with the bug fixes.) It appears that flickr is waiting to see the reaction before it says too much, but this lack of communication, coupled with the poor reputation Yahoo has earned for destroying things, is not doing them any favors.

Along with the lack of response from Yahoo and flickr about the changes, the FAQ pages do not seem to adequately respond to many of the questions and confusions that most people have. There are a lot of vague phrases that discuss “reoccurring” pro accounts and accounts being “eligible”. It does not say what any of this means, this makes people more scared and confused.

What’s more, the new pricing scheme doubles the “pro” fee fo $25 a year to $50 a year for “ad free” but doesn’t say if it is ad free for the people looking at your photos or just for you as you browse the site. This change is not well documented and due to limitations in the English language and the writing style of the FAQs, many things remain unclear.

Right now all flickr users should be rejoicing because Yahoo just confirmed that flickr is not going away anytime soon. They just sunk a bunch of time and resources into making flickr better and ensuring the longevity of the service. They made the free account easier to use so that more people can use the service. Where Yahoo bought and killed off many other services, it will not be the case with flickr.

Is every new feature with flickr good? Maybe not. Should some things be changed either back to the way there were or to something eles, possibly. But to cry out in outrage because Yahoo is showing dedication that they should have shown years ago is not going to help anyone at this point.

The biggest problem with the update was how it was handled. Even worse, though, was how the user base handled the changed. This is the internet, and that means change. Find me a website that doesn’t change it’s layout to keep up to speed with the latest trends and I will show you a website that isn’t worth visiting. ( Remember this, anyone? )

Spoiler Alert: Star Trek Into Darkness

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This most definitely contain spoilers. You have been warned.

Star Trek into Darkness Movie

Plot Summary:
Star Trek Into Darkness begins in much the same way you would expect any Star Trek Movie to begin. The actor who plays Leonard Nimoy’s character dresses up as Iron Man and bungie jumps into a volcano while James T. Kirk and Bones are chased through a red forest by a race of people who dress up like Johnny Depp in the Lone Ranger trailer which had just finished playing.

This stunt, however, has little do to with anything else, because we are soon back on earth where Benedict Cumberbatch, played by Sherlock Holmes, saves a small girl and then apparently joins the dark side by enslaving a black man and forcing him to blow up a secret facility. He follows this up with a shootout and then retreats to the Klingon home world, obviously.

This is terribly convenient for the real bad guy in the film because now he can send Kirk and crew on a secret mission to bomb the Klingons and start a war with these new untraceable torpedoes which are powered by… frozen people!

Having just been chewed out by Spock and others for his disobedience of orders, Kirk now takes Spock’s advice to disregard the orders he was just given and capture John Harrison (Ford) instead of just killing him. Upon reaching the Klingon planet, they are surrounded by Klingon ships and about to be captured but John goes all Equilibrium on the aliens and they all die. He then immediately surrenders to Kirk.

Back on the ship we find out that The Necromancer was the one who actually put the people in the torpedoes, so even if they had fired on the Klingon planet, they wouldn’t have actually started a war, they just would have killed cryogenically frozen old people. We also learn that the reason Khan was forced to kill all those innocent people at Starfleet command was that the Admiral had threatened to kill his frozen crew mates (who he was able to smuggle into the torpedoes for safe keeping…) … … …

By now, the logical thing to expect is for the Admiral to show up in enemy space in a newly completed space ship that has been, up until now, top secret. Realizing that the gig is up, Kirk heads for home at warp speed and the Admiral has “no choice” but to blast the Enterprise out of the sky.

Shields are apparently useless, however, because a few pot shots later and the Enterprise looks like a sieve. Just when they are about to be destroyed, Nicholas Angel, Played by James Doohan, played by Scotty, played by Simon Pegg, shows up and reboots the entire enemy space ship. Which you can apparently do… This gives Kirk and Khan just enough time to hurl themselves through space at what can only be called ‘personnel splattering’ speeds. Scotty then kills the first and only “enemy” crew member when he throws him out an airlock.

It now becomes entirely obvious that the only thing Sherlock wanted was to kill the Admiral, though there aren’t many people who are eager to stop him, partly because they are unconscious or injured on the floor, but also because the Admiral was a bit of an ass.

Finally, with some actual bargaining power, Khan trades the USS Enterprises Crew for his own frozen crew in their torpedoes and everyone goes their own happy ways and live happily ever after.

At least, for the next two seconds before Benedict “changes his mind” and blows the Enterprise out of existence. Or he would have, if Spock hadn’t lied for once in his life and swapped out the frozen people for actual torpedo fuel.

With Khan now safely defeated the crew of the Enterprise quickly returns to destroying the laws of physics and is apparently close enough to Earth to be in danger of burning up in the atmosphere… But the power of friendship is easily able to overcome the forces of gravity and radiation and everyone lives happily ever after.

Except for all the people who die when Khan crashes the remains of his ship into San Francisco. Because running away with a powerful ship and coming back later is not a good long term strategy?

Finally, everyone alive now can live happily ever after.

Star Trek: Into Darkness tung ?nh ??y k?ch tính

Review:
My plot summary is a bit glib and silly. Do not take my discussion of plot holes to mean I didn’t like the film. I did like the film. I thought it was great. It was very entertaining.

For a 2 hour and 12 minute movie this did a great job of holding my attention the whole time. There were a number of extraneous scenes and I felt like there were a few too many complications and twists in the plot, but it held my attention quite well. There were a few instances of fan service where the dialogue or situation almost seemed forced so that they could get a line in: “Damn it Jim, I’m a Doctor, not a…”

The casting for the film was fantastic. I was really amazed at how natural all the characters felt and how much they resembled the original cast from the TV show. I really enjoyed that.

Lens flare all around! Literally.

Plot was so-so. Mostly feasible, though motives always get messy when there are too many plot twists. I’ll buy it.

I don’t really like how the ship was portrayed in this. It felt like this vast open warehouse. People were walking along catwalks everywhere and I swear one of the florescent lights was hung like a street lamp. It felt like a factory and not like a space ship.

The underwater ship at the beginning reminded me of Futurama:
Leela: “Five thousand feet!”
Farnsworth: “Dear Lord! That’s over one hundred and fifty atmospheres of pressure.”
Fry: “How many atmospheres can the ship withstand?”
Farnsworth: “Well, it’s a space ship. So I’d say anywhere between zero and one.”

Overall I really enjoyed the film, but I went in wanting, no, NEEDING, to have an enjoyable evening. There was a lot of action, a lot of explosions, and I came away entertained.

Drop kick the routine

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Routine is great. It really is. It’s safe, it’s reliable, it’s a wonderful way to get things done. The trouble is that routine very easily can become “stuck in a rut.” Routine also can create habits which while not solely bad, is not always good.

Like Sherlock Holmes, I occasionally feel chained down by the monotony of life, continually solving the same problem over and over again with no hope for advancement.

When reaching this plane of existence sometimes you need a swift kick to remind you that life is more than a schedule.

To be sure, pushing your physical, mental, and emotional limits for great lengths of time is not an ideal way to live (unless you’re a parent… so I’ve been told.) But there is something to be said about fully immersing yourself into something new and exciting to a point where you can forget all the little things that use to bother you.

Possibly the easiest example of this type of plunge is cutting off social network use. Checking sites like Facebook, Twitter, or even RSS regularly can not only become monotonous  but can be a time sink if you are not careful. The best way to help cut back from these little habits is to drop the sites cold turkey.

I have a great admiration for the people who do this and while I do not go to the lengths that others do (closing accounts, deleting apps, etc…) I do find that if I throw myself into projects I will many times not remember to check on these things.

Which I think leads to some interesting observations. When I am putting a lot of time and effort towards people or projects I am excited about or believe in I don’t have the physiological need to interact with people via these mediums.

While time to check things is certainly a factor, the reason for visiting the sites regularly is rarely because I have nothing else to do. It’s not that I don’t want to do hard work, it’s not even that I don’t have hard work to do, but more aptly that the work I have to do is not viewed as rewarding as the reward offered by seeing something fun on the social network.

There’s a lot more to the internet and social networks than I think most of us completely understand. There is a lot of subconscious and behavioral science that is probably extremely fascinating, but I don’t understand.

Which again leads back to my original thought. Sometimes you need to break out of your routine. Maybe it’s enough for you to take a three day long vacation, but to truly reset yourself you need to push yourself so far out of your zone that you can’t even find it when it’s time to go back.

Smell of Memories

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65 Years

Away from home for a week, I finally return to town and after attending the visitation for my Grandmas funeral, I head to my parents home–the house that use to belong to my Grandparents.

As I open the basement door and head downstairs I am stopped by the familiar scent, the smell I associate with Grandma and Grandpa’s house.

It is a strange smell and unexpected, though not unpleasant. It is also fleeting as my body quickly adjust to the new surroundings. My heart sinks as the smell becomes imperceptible.

The smell is unique to this now fourty year old house and brings back a sensation of childhood visits. Over the thirteen years my family has now lived in this house the smell has become less common, or at least less noticed. It is only after an extended time away that I am able to catch a faint wiff of that unreproducable aroma.

Both grandparents on that side of my family are gone now, done with the troubles of this life and enjoying the endless bliss of eternal life. The familiar tangle of emotions–sadness mixed with joy–tug my heart and face in several conflicting directions while I’m paused on the staircase.

The last few steps down the stairs are slower and I duck my head instinctively to avoid the low ceiling at the bottom. I do not know the source of the smell, though I wish I did. If I could take a square of carpet or a chunk of wall and bottle up the fragrance I would. I can think of nothing more nostalgic or memorable.

My grandparents had been married for 67 years and left a legacy behind them. Children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren, art in the form of paintings, pottery, and woodcraft, stories, memories, and yes, even smells.

I’m not alone in noticing this. My siblings and friends also note the aroma. The house still has a loyalty to the couple that built it and lived in it for 30 years. I do not know how long the smell will linger, perhaps it will always be there to greet newcomers and welcome returning loved ones home. I hope that it is.

Impossibly Naive

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There was an interesting discussion this week and the point was made that the only reason some people do “impossible” things is that they are naive about what they are getting themselves into.

While I understand the sentiment, I feel that there is a better clarification to be made because, as usual, I don’t think life is that simple.

There are only two reasons you would take on an impossible task.

1. You do not know that it is impossible.

2. You do not believe that it is impossible.

To take on a task known to be impossible is an exercise in futility.

If you don’t know that a task is impossible you’ll likely go in, expecting some degree of success. You may think that it will be very easy to begin with. Even if the project is daunting, your expectations will be that you will be able to pull through.

Now, there is a necessity for the determination required to complete a task. Many people will gladly take on a task, naively thinking it’ll be easy and as soon as it’s not, drop it like a hot rock. Whether the desire to complete something that was started is stubbornness, grit, stick-to-it-tive-ness, a sense of pride or duty, or more naiveté, it probably doesn’t matter, but it will dictate whether things are finished or not.

Do not discount the power of positive thinking.

In this first instance, I would expect a slower process with many stops for trouble shooting. Each problem is tackled and things move along as things are solved. This is a huge chance to learn but also an opportunity to make mistakes, both good and bad. (Hopefully good, since we’re all a bit of an idiot.)

In the second instance, if you do not believe a task is impossible, you may still recognize it as being extremely difficult. This offers a potential “buffer” from the initial idea to the actual implementation for planning that wouldn’t naturally come if the project was considered simple. This extra pre-production could potentially make the “impossible” easier to tackle and it might mean fewer mistakes and setbacks, but it also means a slower start to the actual implementation.

Personally, I would lean toward the second instance as the better of the two situations. It’s good to know what you’re getting yourself into so you can properly prepare. Whether it’s gathering materials, making plans, or just prepping mentally for a lot of hard days and late nights, a well thought out attack plan usually makes things smoother by several orders of magnitude.

Yet, I think there can also be value in jumping into something without knowing the difficulty scale. The experience of a new challenge can be exhilarating.

Of course, it’s easy to be overwhelmed and to get in over your head when you don’t understand the scope of what you’re signing up for. As usual, I think that’s the caution that needs to be mentioned. With any project, there’s a level of personal care and responsibility that needs to be allowed for. That’s one of the dangers of not having a well established plan.

It’s hard to conclude a topic like this, because ultimately, there is no right or wrong way to do anything. Every situation calls for a different tactic. Sometimes it’s good to be naive and to make mistakes, as long as those mistakes are learning experiences and don’t end up destroying you. While it’s great to have impossible tasks on your résumé, you have to weigh the costs, most instances don’t dictate the need for a martyr.

Which brings me to my dad’s favorite saying. “Moderation in everything, including moderation.” Sometimes you just need to be extreme.

A Stream of Thoughts on Rivers

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I don’t get rivers.

I mean, I understand the concept: water in a high place flows to a less high place. I just can’t fathom why they don’t stop.

Perceptually I have never experienced anything that doesn’t run out. Well, that’s not entirely true. The tap in my house seems to never run dry, but the small half inch pipe that runs to the faucet provides a minimal gallons per minute expenditure of liquid. The creek at the bottom of our yard, however, is probably flowing at a few dozen gallons per second. (Probably more.)

High Creek

I just can’t fathom that there is that much water that still hasn’t rushed downhill yet. And it just keeps coming. It doesn’t stop.

This is just in my own back yard. Don’t even get me started on Niagara Falls.

Niagra falls ECU

Wikipedia tells me that Niagara Falls has an average almost four million cubic feet of water flowing over the edge every minute. That’s the size of a football field and 70 feet tall. And that’s just one minute’s worth of water.

I can’t confirm this, but I’m pretty sure Niagara runs 24/7. I don’t think they turn it off at night and refill the tanks. That’s a lot of water.

Thats. A. Lot. Of. Water.

My perception of space and time is rather warped, I’m guessing most people’s is, mainly because we travel from place to place really quickly and typically don’t have to deal with things that are mind boggling huge.

I’ve pretty much given up on trying to wrap my head around it, but I still think it’s pretty crazy.