Back around 2008, I was tasked with kicking-off an IT transformation project in Brisbane that ended up being a multi-month gig. While I have been fortunate to have done some international work, Brisbane for nearly a year became my second home from 2008 to 2010.

My first exposure to this wonderful city was coming in on a late-night flight from San Francisco (which started in Chicago) and based on the recommendation of one of the local staff, I was booked into the Treasury Casino Hotel, on the top floor, with a patio overlooking the Treasury Casino. Even though it was about 3 am and a very long flight, the view of the commons and the Casino just had to be taken in:

At this point I had graduated to my 3rd digital camera, a Canon Powershot A640. I had not had it long yet, but was already enamored with how far the technology had progressed. Even so, getting this shot meant a very long exposure and would have been difficult except for the fact that absolutely everything was still in the pre-dawn air.

It was silent and magical and unforgettable; staying that way for nearly an hour until the morning deliveries began.

With that, this image has been updated just a bit to remove the noise that was common with early digital cameras as well as provide a very mild sharpening, using software (Topaz Photo AI, Radiant Photo 2) that simply did not exist back when this image was taken 17 years ago.

I loved my time in Brisbane and was fortunate enough to have spent nearly 2 years in-and-out (and a full summer).

March 13th, 2008 -{Tech in the comments}

#Photography #UrbanPhotography #Nightphotography #SilentSunday #MomentOfZen #Australia #Brisbane

One of the things that rarely gets brought up is the obsolescence of old technology formats and how it will begin to block us from perfectly preserved and intact data simply because a device to "read" the data no longer exists.

Take the humble floppy drive for example. Most modern PCs and many operating systems will not recognize a 5.25 inch floppy, and quite a few don't recognize a 3.5 inch one either. Few people have the need, or don't care of course. But the fact is that if you were to run across a stack of 5.25" floppies that had an unknown work by (insert your favorite artist here), being able to pull a copy would not be a simple job.

This is beginning to happen to Optical Disks as well.

I was able to pick up a new-old-stock set of M*A*S*H DVD's that were directly produced by 20th Century Fox this week. They were delivered today in their unopened original shipping box, with the retail disk box still shrink-wrapped and all the DVDs still tightly mounted inside and perfect (zero scratches or evidence of DVD rot) Amazingly there is no Blu-Ray collection of this epic series and since Fox studios is no more (as anyone who saw Deadpool 3 might have ascertained), there many never be a new set of these produced.

Not a single one of these disks could be read error-free on any of the 3 Blu-Ray drives that I have active in my home. Indeed several of the disks weren't readable at all.
The only drive that will read them is a 10(ish) year old Pioneer Blu-Ray drive. Which I keep hanging on to because... this is not the first time this has happened before.
To repeat, these disks are fine. Indeed they are pretty much perfect. But how DVDs were manufactured 15 years ago was very much different than how they are made today, and every thing from the size/spacing of the data pits on the disk to the optimization for certain wavelength lasers has changed over the years.

It's been incremental to be sure, so the changes over say, a decade, aren't enough to piss off a modern optical drive. But more often I'm running across media from 15+ years ago that newer drives choke on. And some of these creative works are no longer available in their original form. M*A*S*H for example had an original run-time of about 26 minutes, and usually had just 3 minutes of commercials when airing on CBS. Today when an episode streams it is rarely longer than 19 minutes (in order to get 10 minutes of ads in), so most of the time you are seeing a M*A*S*H episode that has had 20% (or more) of it cut to plug into a 30 minute space. For a show of its kind, those lost scenes can make a real difference.

I'll be taking steps to make sure that I can read these DVDs again in the future, but for a lot of folks, this isn't doable.

And of course for stuff that is even less well-known, it may never get brought to a new format at all.

Makes me a bit sad... 😢

Pouring one out for EL-ISAC today. I actually knew about this one a couple of weeks back, but apparently the "official statement" that they are history was announced yesterday.

Trump administration halts funding for two cybersecurity efforts, including one for elections: apnews.com/article/election-se…

This one is somewhat personal as I had the honor of working with a number of the folks at the Elections Information Sharing and Analysis Center during my time at the Illinois State Board of Elections. That group, along with the elections staff at CISA (who are also now gone), were a critical component in ensuring the cybersecurity of elections agencies and elections systems in the U.S. I don't think it is possible to downplay the impact that shutting them down will have on elections integrity.

Even more worrisome is that it now also appears that MS-ISAC, which is the larger and more general Information Sharing and Analysis Center, is also on the chopping block. This one has been focused on strengthening the cybersecurity efforts of State and Local Government Agencies, including many School Districts. So, Transportation Agencies, such as the one I lead IT and Cybersecurity operations for, get daily intelligence from MS-ISAC regarding threats and exploits that are actively being conducted against our country. Crippling both ISACs (or in the case of elections, eliminating it entirely) will have a lasting impact on small government’s and local infrastructure’s ability to defend themselves for years to come.

Clearly we as a country have made a decision to roll-out the welcome mat to those that would hurt our Information Systems and Infrastructure. Why that is... is obviously a much larger conversation than I wish to have here today.

Instead, I simply want to Thank all of the folks at EL-ISAC who believed in the importance of maintaining the integrity of a Democratic Elections System so much that they were right there with all of us Elections Agencies at all hours of the day and night making it happen. For many of them it wasn’t a job, it was a calling. And it showed in everything you did.

You all deserved better.

#Cybersecurity #ElectionsSecurity #Elections #CISA #ISAC

Amidst the firehose of daily insanity coming out of the U.S. these days, this perhaps depresses me the most.

One of the real joys as I have been spending the 2nd half of my Career in Public Service has been hanging with the Gen Y and Gen Z folks (and increasingly Gen A) who were dedicated to making genuine differences in the society and world that they live in. More so than my generation (I’ve always seen myself as an early X), this was a group that seemed to better understand that $$$ isn’t everything, that the Life part of the Work/Life equation was important, and well… That the Work part was too.

Every day that I get to be around them and see their passion for real transformation in Public Service has been an inspiration and a joy. Periodically I have alluded to the fact that I am not exactly a youngster anymore (although in my head, I'm 25) and the reality is I am now at an age where it would not be inconceivable to be thinking about retirement. What has been keeping me in the “game” has been the feeling that my experiences are still of benefit to the greater good, combined with the relentless drive and passion that these younger technologists keeping bringing to the table when we talk about ways to make things better. It's the best high there is to be had.

Most of them probably have no idea that I get more out of working with them than they can possibly be getting from me. And until recently I fervently believed that they were on the cusp of great things.

And suddenly, we are telling most of them that none of that matters…

I truly hope they weather the storm and that they are there to pick up the pieces and rebuild the destruction that is happening in our Country and our World. But for the first time I wonder if I will live to see it:

apnews.com/article/trump-musk-…

1996...

This story has been told in our personal circle many times, so for close friends and family, please, TL:DR...

Evelia was actually the one who asked me out.

3 times.

We were both Public Transit Drivers for the IU Campus Bus Service. I was single, on strike 2 at pursuing a degree, very shy (seriously, not the adorable and outgoing person I am today), and absolutely uninterested in dating in any way whatsoever.

Evelia was a single parent, a student (12 credit hours) and a full-time IU Bus Driver. She was also obnoxiously extroverted.

For reasons that are still to this day unclear to me, she started hitting on me almost immediately.

I said no.

I said no again.

The third time she caught me at the IU Bus Garage between shifts, pulled me aside, and said something to the effect of. "Look, it doesn't have to be a date or anything. Between work, school, and the kids, I never get a chance to just go see a movie and have a hamburger with another adult. You're kind of cute and it doesn't seem like you have any friends, so I simply thought it might be nice to hang together sometime. No pressure."

We've now been together for 37(ish) years...

{Photo originally taken by Chris Rund}

The upside-down flag — traditionally a symbol of distress or a national threat — was strung near the falls and clearly visible.

“We’re bringing attention to what’s happening to the parks, which are every American’s properties,” Gavin Carpenter, a maintenance mechanic with Yosemite and disabled military veteran who supplied the flag and helped hang it Saturday, told the Chronicle. “It’s super important we take care of them, and we’re losing people here, and it’s not sustainable if we want to keep the parks open.”

Eleven of Yosemite’s full-time staff members, including the park’s sole locksmith, a biologist, an HVAC specialist and others, received a termination email on Feb. 14 — as did thousands of federal lands workers across the country, some of whom have spoken out about the pain and dejection they feel being summarily dismissed from jobs they love. Yosemite staffers typically live in employer-provided housing in the park, so a termination can carry the added burden for many of losing their residence.

msn.com/en-us/travel/parks/ar-…

Anyone want to guess which two got fired yesterday? It shouldn't be hard.

I remember this statement being shared across social networking in the days before the election:

Citizens should consider a candidate’s character when voting, but they should also remember that a candidate’s policy reflects their character. Andrew T. Walker, Ethics and public Theology Professor at Southern Seminary, recently wrote about the importance of policy in World. Policy-the type of that has real-world implications on others – may be a more accurate barometer of one’s deepest convictions that have a formative or deformative effect on character than even the words that come out of one’s mouth, “he writes, In other words, “Policy is character, too.”

Understand that I don't endorse that statement, indeed it reflects one of the worst aspect of Human Nature, which is "the ends justify the means", and an attitude that evil is OK, as long as it accomplishes the things we want. Historically nothing good as ever come from that pact with the Devil. Nothing good is coming this time either.

But I continue to be surprised at all the shocked reactions as we citizens of the U.S. watch the remake of our country from one of diversity and inclusion to one which is a White, Christian Nationalist, Patriarchic Fascist government. For the folks that did not see this coming, all I can say is "Really?"

So again, just a reminder that a plurality of Americans voted for this and all the signs that is was coming were there.

This was a choice.

It Can't Rain All The Time...

Having been blown away by the 4k UHD remaster of Constantine this weekend, I decided to rewatch the 4k remaster of the Crow tonight, after getting a copy this last summer.

I will always have mixed feelings about this movie, simply because of Brandon Lee's death. But it is such a brilliant piece of work that it cannot be ignored.

With that said, the 30th anniversary remaster of The Crow is stunning in 4k HDR on a good, large TV. Keeping true to its original intent, Director Alex Proyas chose to leave the gritty, noisy and washed-out look of the film the same, instead simply enhancing the resolution and color depth that an HDR remastering can give. I doubt it's ever looked better.

Watching these earlier interpretations of Graphic Novels such as The Crow and Constantine remind me that sometimes the massive success of movie franchises such as the Marvel Universe carry with them a downside, in that they suffocate any attempts to do something different and unique. Don't get me wrong, I love the Fiege Marvel movies (or at least the first dozen or so). But we need more Crows in our cinematic universe.

TL:DR – For those that are simply interested in an Android Call Whitelist Application that Is Not Evil – Go Here - felenasoft.com

Corporate “Little Evils” come in many forms and one of those was a recent dirty move by ATT.

I have been an ATT cellular subscriber for a couple of decades now, and my current phone number is one that I have had for about half that time and through at least 3 professional roles. Because of this I get a LOT of unwanted calls, across a spectrum ranging from genuine SPAM and Fraud, to a long, long list of technology company sales folks who all want just “5 minutes of my time” to tell me why their solution is the best.

Reporting these is largely useless as those with evil intent will simply fake and/or rotate the numbers they use, and cold calls from businesses are almost impossible to get blocked because they are, well, considered legitimate as the numbers are real and published.

The solution for those of us seeking some sanity in our cellular lives is a Whitelist. For the uninitiated, a Whitelist is usually your contacts folder, tied to an application with a simple set of instructions that only allows Phone numbers in your contacts folder to ring-through, typically moving all the rest to Voicemail.

Simple, right? So simple that one would think that this would (or should) be a built-in capability for all cellular phones.

That is where that “Little Evils” comes in…

Those Sales Companies? Those Loan Companies? Those Collections Companies? They are all major paying customers to telecommunications carriers, and shell out a whole more $$$ to them than you ever will. And set up properly, Whitelists are highly effective. So effective that if used widely, it would seriously damage the revenue stream for everyone involved.

Because of this, in some ways, ATT has been a bit of outlier for the last several years as they offered a preinstalled product called ActiveArmor that allowed for calls to be Whitelisted. Granted, the settings to turn it on were somewhat buried into the App and not super-intuitive. Nor did ATT advertise it. But for those that knew, the capability was there, and it worked great.

Until sometime around February 1st of this year that is…

Right around then, a funny thing started happening on my phone. It blew up with calls…

Lots of calls…

Like all damn day…

The first few calls I (of course) picked up because for roughly the last 3 years my phone was only ringing for people I know, and I work in a job where there are people in my contact list I have to respond to. But after roughly 6 calls in two hours from various sales people and scam artists, I opened the ActiveArmor app to find out why it was no longer working.

I was greeted with a message announcing a major upgrade to the App, along with an additional pop-up announcing "We have removed the ability to configure calls from numbers not in your contacts to be sent voicemail because it's now part of your OS settings"

In other words, the Whitelist functionality has been removed.

Oh, and the “now part of your OS settings”? They are referring to this:

Unfortunately, all this appears to block are, quite literally, unknown calls. Legitimate registered numbers (you know, all the ones that come from telemarketers, sales people, etc…) ring through just fine.

In looking at the increasing number of 1-star reviews the ATT ActiveArmor app is beginning to accumulate, it is fairly obvious that they know this was a deliberate move on their part, and their comments to complaints continue to dance around the fact that Whitelisting has been removed. That they have committed a “Little Evil” in name of profit probably should not be surprising, but it remains frustrating all the same.

Fortunately there does seem to be an alternative out there that works and it is called, simply enough, KnownCalls.

I’ve had KnownCalls on my Android Phone for a couple of weeks now. Setup was easy, but a couple of small gotchas are that you will want to remove the ATT ActiveArmor App and disable “Block calls from unknown numbers” setting in your Android Phone App, as Android only allows one App to perform Caller ID functions. Once installed and running however, set up is a snap, with one simply enabling the Whitelist function:

That’s it. Only numbers in my contacts folder ring through again. And sanity has returned to my phone.

The bonus is that currently KnownCalls is completely free. No charge, no ads, no tracking. Someone should be giving FelenaSoft a medal for this.

Anyway, if you were one of the folks who have found yourself recently screwed-over by the change made to the ATT ActiveArmor App, you should give KnownCalls some real consideration (link to them at the top of this post)

- MEK

This morning, I saw this share by Political Cartoonist Mike Luckovich:

That I am dissapointed about this goes without saying. Mr. Luckovich is possibly one of the finest political cartoonists of my generation. While I don't always agree with everything he posts, he always makes me think. I value that more than Mike will ever know.

I am however completely unsurprised that X banned his post.

So... A Quick Civics Reminder:

The 1st Amendment of the U.S. Constitution only restricts Congress from impeding free speech. It does not restrict private entities or corporations from doing so.

X is not your friend. Neither is Meta, BlueSky, or TikTok. All of them are driven by motives; commercial, and in some cases, political.

Asking them to change what they are is likely to be a lesson in futility.

And while we are on this subject, people should understand that while the Fediverse as a whole is pretty neutral, Individually owned and hosted Fediverse servers may not be. Nothing wrong with that, the strength of the medium is that practically anyone can set up a Mastodon, Pixelfed, Friendica, or other server that reflects their world-views. But it is always a good idea to know where you are choosing to land your accounts and what that community stands for. Whether you like it or not, you are a reflection of the choices you make.

Sadly we are moving into a world where freedom of expression is going to become an increasingly difficult thing to have, and attempts to restrict the flow of contrary or uncomfortable views are going to come from countries, goverments, and institutions that were previously seen as lights shining in the darkness. During these times, knowledge and an open mind will be the most powerful tools you can have.

“Mighty little force is needed to control a man whose mind has been hoodwinked; contrariwise, no amount of force can control a free man, a man whose mind is free. No, not the rack, not fission bombs, not anything—you can’t conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him.”

Robert Heinlein – Revolt in 2100.