WarGames is 38 years old as I write this, yes, it was released in 1983. That’s a long time in technology.
Remember that Facebook is about 17 years old, and when it started was quite basic. Even Amazon, as Calabria, only started in 1994. Of course, my employer, IBM started a lot farther back in time, but that’s an exception.
So, is WarGames still relevant?
Well, we still live with some degree of fear about nuclear warfare, though the Doomsday Clock is perhaps focused on a wider range of possible causes to end human life.
No, what caused me to write this, was that when David Lightman is researching the system’s designer, Professor Stephen Falke, he starts by researching him.
Learning who the end user is, whether you’re a hacker or a normal computer system or software designer is vital. These days it’s more about your success with that audience. Of course, success as a measurable, differs by the progenitor. I mean, a hacker will want to successfully deprive you of some asset, whereas a software or system designer wants your hard earned cash… OK, so maybe they’re all after the same end result… 😉
WarGames I think is still highly relevant, it’s fun, escapist (especially when we’re all still stuck at home), it’s educational, and a nicely told story.
I just tweeted that I’d love to drive a Renault 5.5. Yes, I’m watching Top Gear’s tribute to Bond, James Bond.
Some lovely vehicles, some fantastic ones, and great stories.
Watching Chris drive the Toyota 2000 just set my mind off. how’s that you say? What do you mean?
Well, Mum and Dad went to see You Only Live Twice as a treat because they had two young kids, me and my brother, and needed some time for themselves.
And that just got me thinking about Mum.
Last weekend was Mother’s Day here in the UK. That reminded me of Mum. She’s only been gone 4 months and 2 days. We’re still sorting things, please make sure you have a will. But there are other reminders of her.
As I say, sometimes it’s the little things. She’ll never really be gone I know.
For a while, I’ve been on a downer about Facebook. I should help give some content to better understand this perspective. I worked on preparation for GDPR – the General DataProtection Regulation that was instituted in Europe and came into effect on 25 May 2018.
Image obtained from Medium.com
It’s a great set of rules that define how organisations should respect and allow individuals to manage their own data. Yes, they might have collected it, but it is about us, it is thus still ours. It’s worth reading regardless of where you live, it might not be an issue as an individual, but most of us work for organisations and they have to abide by its rules. Indeed GDPR is not the only legislation about privacy and a surprising number of countries or sovereign states have controls.
Now, many will know of the Cambridge Analytica scandal that was linked to Facebook, indeed, it could not have happened unless Facebook had been so carefree with our data.
There have been other issues raised, such as Facebook’s influence over the 2016 voting for the US presidency and the UK’s Brexit vote. Recent changes by Facebook are, in my view, recognition that if it doesn’t change some aspects of its operations, it will be forced to by US or other governments.
Since those days, more and more focus has been directed to Facebook and how it handles our data. Instagram started in 2010 and was swiftly purchased by Facebook in 2012. WhatsApp started a little earlier than Instagram in 2009 and was bought by Facebook n 2014.
The links between the three products have become steadily more fixed and allow flow of data between them, although Instagram has maintained a distinct identity longer than expected. Now, however, Facebook has solidified that the three platforms are very much intertwined.
Why is this an issue? Think about it, you might text a friend in WhatsApp, like their photo in Instagram and then share common events and other thoughts in Facebook. That means Facebook now has the most complete understanding of you, as an individual, your network and it’s connections, as it possibly could. Indeed, it probably knows more about you than the government. Facebook knows who you are, who you like – and based on those social connections, who you don’t.
The recent announcement or clarification of the relationship between WhatsApp and Facebook for me was the end. I’m posting this today and linking to Instagram so that I can close my accounts on all three services fully. (Yes, I’ve deactivated my main profile on Facebook, but maintained Messenger contact with some of my best friends). I’ve moved to MeWe as my general social network platform (friends know I’ve tried various other social networks in the past, but this one feels like it could last). I’ve also moved to Signal which is amazingly like WhatsApp so it’s an easy switch for many to make. I’ve seen the numbers of others switching to Signal increase significantly in the last two weeks since I joined.
Many know I like Apple products. I like Apple because I trust that, while not perfect, it will allow me to manage my privacy more effectively and allow me to be the individual I want to be. The feud between Facebook and Apple only further highlights just how much Facebook wants, no I should rephrase, needs to know about you and your network of friends and other contacts.
Apple recently announced its intention to bring to the small screen the Isaac Asimov series about Foundation. The basis of which is “psychohistory” or the ability to predict mass groups and what they will do. To me Facebook is already attempting to bring this to life. Want to get a sense of how that could go wrong? Try another science fiction film – Minority Report. I don’t seriously think we’ll allow that sort of “Precrime” concept, though given the last four years (2016-2020) and the weird political actions that have happened, perhaps I should be more concerned?
Facebook is disturbingly easy to use and stay in touch with some friends, but it has a very dirty past in my opinion and now is a great time to highlight to them by switching off my connection with them.
My all too brief summary of 2020 and thoughts for 2021
2020 has followed much of 2016.
A change of president
Brexit
Deaths of many we’ve known and loved
Plus we can’t forget something that started in 2019 in China – Covid.
Here in the UK, we seem to have made a complete hash of it, but what can you expect from the country that brought you Brexit? Britain is particularly great at shooting itself in the foot. Voting to leave the UK, failing to shut down quickly enough, failing to wear masks, and seemingly creating or at least helping to spread the new Covid variant. We’ve done a great job of showing we can’t sort ourselves out.
Thankfully, this time around the change in president (in the US of A) is from the one many have named “45” to avoid using his name and giving him legitimacy, to Joe Biden, who immediately appears more “normal”. At least he is not focused on “fake news” or disrupting the world. Joe seems to be more about bringing people together. A total turnaround from what the world has experienced during the last four years.
We voted to leave Europe, and now it’s actually happening. The “oven ready” deal wasn’t quite that, though somehow Boris has managed to get something in place. I’ve no idea if it will be enough to save the UK businesses that I know are looking at what business they will still manage to run in this new world of the UK outside of the EU. Time will tell and I hope it will work, but I fear the British public’s choice was so ill-informed and we’ll never quite manage to be the Great nation we once were. Early analysis suggests that services, which makes up most of what Britain sells abroad to the EU will not be as easy or successful. What is still worrying is the noise that rumbles about whether Ireland will reunite, and if that does, it opens the doors for Scotland and possibly Wales to push for independence.
The deaths this year have almost reached 2016 levels. Sean Connery, Derek Fowlds (Basil Brush and yes Minister), Terry Jones, Nicholas Parsons (Just a Minute will never be the same again), Kirk Douglas, John Shrapnel, Max von Sydow, Bill Withers, Honor Blackman, Sir Stirling Moss, Little Richard, Vera Lynn, Ennis Morrison’s, Chadwick Boseman, Diana Rigg, Eddie Van Haley, John Sessions, Geoffrey Palmer, Dave Prowse, and Barbara Windsor.
And my Mum. 19th November 2020 will be forever etched in our family memories.
2020 ends with Covid throwing another spanner in the works with a new variant that spreads faster, so many of us in the UK are in Tier 4 – and if it continues, possibly a Tier 5 might have to be developed. I feel that 2021 will continue to be challenging with respect to the ongoing Brexit and COVID-19 situations, but there’s more to 2021 than that.
2021 holds a lot of promise, some challenges for sure, but like many people around the world, I’m positive it can only get better. When compared to the sh*tshow that 2020 has been.
Fingers crossed 2021 delivers on all the hopes and dreams. And on that note there are some positives to watch for:
I really enjoy this film. From Andrew Lincoln’s self-preservation with Kiera Knightley, to Hugh Grant’s adoration of Martine McCutcheon and Alan and Emma’s performances, it is a superb film.
I can see times when I’ve been or wanted to be all of the male characters. (For Colin – Kris Marshall – perhaps that’s a wistful dream!)
Given that this year there’s no Christmas presents or presence except virtual, this is the nearest I’ll get to love this year.
Maybe in 2021 I’ll manage to rekindle something with a gorgeous lady. There must be someone out there. 👍
Eighty years is a very long time. Most of those who read this blog are a way off reaching that number of years on this planet.
I know a few folk who’ve reached that estimable age. Today that group reduced its number by one.
My Mum.
I have many memories of my Mum. Obviously the most recent is seeing her in bed today, seemingly asleep. The last few years have been watching her battle various illnesses and how she battled and struggled with the different issues her body would devise to remind us all how fragile this thing called life really is.
The photo we all agreed on today as the one to reference as an enduring image of her, is this photo of her I took 13 years ago. The photo was taken as we were leaving The Firecrest pub in celebration of the two birthdays that happen in July, within our close knit family.
Mum – July 2007
There are other photos I’ve got of Mum, but none capture her in as relaxed and happy a pose. Somehow, if she knew a camera was pointed at her she’d sort of clam up or harden her pose. I’ve got quite good at getting people to relax for more candid and personal photos. This one though was taken almost stealthily, to better capture the woman we all know.
There are many other memories, in the usual mix that any family has over time. None of us are saints are we? But we don’t focus on the bad, and nor should we over-glamourise the good or better recollections.
2020 has been a funny old year what with Covid, Trump, Boris, and other stuff. It’s also seen the loss of a number of people – and now includes my Mum.
Take care, look after and cherish your loved ones, you never know just how long you might have with them
Now imagine such a tunnel not just across the US, or Russia, or any other similarly huge country. Imagine it crossing the oceans – above would be safer of course – and you then have Harry Harrisons’ A Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah right before your eyes.
My last post was drafted while watching OHMSS and drinking some lovely Yellowtail Pinot Grigio, could you tell?
Life at the moment is more than interesting for all of us. We have COVID-19, Trump in the White House, Boris in number 10, and Brexit coming down like a steam roller. So, life is pretty good right? (Sarcasm mode in full on mode).
The universe is ever expanding, which reflects what our lives and knowledge should be – ever expanding. I’d like to think that every day has a new lesson, whether you recognise it or not. Mine is that, after watching some episodes of Futurama, I miss my Leela. Who is she? Someone I once arranged to meet in Milton Keynes. That will only mean something to the one person it’s meant to mean something to. I truly do feel as stupid as Fry sometimes, and maybe that’s fair.
Everything is a huge thing to consider. But for most of us it’s our lives and all that it comprises. Family, friends, loved ones, jobs, careers, stuff – you know, everything. It’s only when enough of it is going away or disappearing or leaving your immediacy that you realise everything is not all that is important.
Warning: at this stage the Yellowtail has been fully consumed!
Every day we get closer to the end of our lives. Some are closer to that time than others and some have hit the barrier. I miss good friends. I worry that soon I will miss people who are even closer. Apologies, those who know, know, those who don’t, don’t need to.
I was profoundly disappointed and upset to hear of a friend’s passing, especially given how I’d “been there” at certain key times For them and their loved ones. Hey ho, reality check.
I wish I could be more closely involved with some, especially “Leela”. Maybe one day.
Sometimes life can be a cruel whatsit and wants to highlight the good, the bad, and the ugly.
The good? Another time, anything I say now feels like self-aggrandisement.
The bad? Covered above. I guess sometimes it takes bad things to truly show your relative value to others.
The ugly? Truth. Truth can be a bad thing. To acknowledge that we’re all human. We all make mistakes, the impact of them is the key. Never rate work issues higher than personal ones – be it family, friends, or anyone close outside of work.
Net, make the most of what life offers, enjoy the great things that happen – and there are way more of those than we ever recognise or admit to the wide world, take life as it comes and be the best person you can.
Goldfinger? Has to be up there, great song and lots of good action. Gert Frobe as the villain, Honor Blackman as, well, you know her name.
How about Skyfall? Daniel does a good Bond, a very good Bond. You believe he became the assassin we all love and has the gritty background, yet can act suave and sophisticated when the need arises.
The Living Daylights has some good action sequences, but Dalton doesn’t quite make it as Bond, nice enough, but not “the” Bond.
How about View to a Kill? What lost it for me was Mayday’s sudden and somewhat unbelievable conversion. Indeed, most of the Moore films are somewhat tongue in cheek, not what Bond really stands for.
Goldeneye? Now, Pierce is definitely a great Bond, for me better than Connery. It’s a great film, spoiler alert – Sean Bean dies at the end, and a wonderful set of action set pieces. It’s still not quite enough.
No, the best Bond for me is the one with the worst Bond, but best overall sense of Bond the hero, Bond the action man, Bond the spy, Bond the covert antagonist, Bond the fighter, Bond the lover, Bond the compassionate, Bond the womaniser – Bond, the complete man of that time.
Yes, for me, OHMSS shows Bond in the complete manner.
PS The only way to better this option is to use the original storyline from the book as originally written by Fleming for “The Spy Who Loved Me“. But it wouldn’t fit what we’ve now come to expect of Bond. It’s told from the female protagonist’s perspective. It’s nothing like the Bond story as we now know them. Nonetheless it is the best Bond story I’ve read and for me would have been an absolutely stunning Bond film. It just wouldn’t have sold, and even in these liberated and more equal times it is still wrong, because it was of an era, of a time when things were different. It’s a shame, it addressed issues of its time well, and being told from the female perspective highlighted the challenges women face. And Bond is the hero who saves her. Even better than in OHMSS.
One day perhaps. I for one would love to see that different type of Bond.
I wonder if someone will have the courage to make it.
