A woman's heart is a deep ocean of secrets. But now you all know there was a man named Jack Dawson, and that he saved me, in every way that a person can be saved.

Old Rose, from Titanic 1997
Directed by Jean Negulesco

I wish that I were an open book, but that simply isn't so. My life has many pages which are public and messy but many more than no one may share.

There have been opportunities of which I took advantage. There are others I missed altogether.

I have loved and won. I have also loved and lost.

I have seen into that deep chasm into the heart of the monster. I dare say there were times when the monster saw into my heart.

Still others where I became the monster.

There were many true friends. There were many others I thought were friends who merely used me spitefully for their own ends.

I pursued the company of others. Others pursued my company as well. There were times I wish I'd just left well enough alone and I'm sure there are those who feel the same regarding me.

I have stood on the mountain top like Martin Luther King and Moses and beheld the promised land. I traveled long and hard and along the way partook of happiness and sorrow and wonderment and wistfulness.

For all the times I learned I took the time to also teach. I once knew the love of God Almighty and though that loss of His favor still pursues me I am hopeful for the future.

Surely this world will not be allowed to become all those fears I see on the horizon. I can only remain that which I have always been, a man; imperfect and pursuant of those things I value.

I only hope that those valuables are sufficient when my story is finally done ... whenever that may be.

It seems that Google projects December of this year for ridding itself of Flash, that web content scourge of the world owned by india and the rest of adobe.

They're really going for the gusto, not only eliminating the major content containers but those little invisible applets which mine data from the user in the name of web analytics.

This auspicious beginning of the eradication of Flash will not arrive soon enough to suit me. Heck, I might even change personal browsers to Chrome just to escape the need for various plugins to block those infuriating flash based intrusions into my web experience ...

Hail to thee oh HTML 5 and I look forward to Flash kicking the bucket along with everyone who uses flash builder as soon as possible.

I look forward to the day when adobe itself ceases to exist.

Prey on that you vermin.

The fear of technology will likely increase as artificial intelligence applications in practical existence continue to rise.

However, like homophobia, the term is much more a misnomer than anything else.

For example, I am not a proponent of the homosexual lifestyle. Though I don't hold it against others I think it is aberant behavior and this is simply my opinion.

This does not make me "fear" homosexuals; but I realize I certainly fall with some of their definitions of "homophobia".

I am a proponent of technology. While I could envision those worst case artificial intelligence scenarios described by Mr Musk and Dr Hawking in their admonitions regarding the portends of AI I cannot indulge in technophobia of the artificial intelligence variety because I have an understanding of the cause and effect relationships they are speaking of when they warn us of the dangers of AI proliferation.
 

Moderation in all things. I don't engage WiFi or other networked home controls because I don't want to give others the ability to exploit them.

This is not so much FEAR as caution for my own well being. I am in favor of some systems remaining manual. This is not to call automation a "bad" thing or to express fear of that technology.

It is merely personal preference due to what I know may be done in the correct set of circumstances.

Suffice it to say that technophobia is nothing I will ever experience because I don't feel that we will be sufficiently advanced in the area of AI or integrated systems automation in my life time.

I simply did not come along late enough in time to require any fear of technology. The fact that I decline to utilize or recognize obvious misnomers borne of our misrepresentative society and lackluster educators is neither here nor there.

I recall my days at Bechtel before I discovered that I was just an IT person and a third rate citizen on that account as well as "just another gd contractor" to those customers we served AND how everyone from whom I required information or service need "hours" from some account prior to any handling of business.

I can't help but think that the continuing Delta glitch of yesterday MUST HAVE BEEN impeded by outsourcing and such antics in the throes of "support" people reading scripted responses from screens presenting database pages rather than real time skill sets at your disposal and support people who were actually concerned regarding the problem.

In reality, outsourcing was a bad idea to begin with. It is a bad idea now. It will remain a bad idea in the future as well for reasons which have become obvious in my experience working with outsourced resources:
 

Outsourced support people could really not care less regarding the efficiency or operation of the enterprise.

Outsourced support people expect to answer only to one individual in the enterprise, that person who pays them. All others are secondary or non issues.

Regardless of what you might hear, you pay way more for outsourced support and services than you do for those available in your own organization.

I am aghast at the expense of outsourcing when I consider the shoddy service received for exhorbinant payments being paid.

Nothing projects incompetence of any organization more than having to rely on outsiders to take care of business in any shoddy fashion they choose.

Outsourcing is a mistake. Call centers should be outlawed. Take care of yourself first. Learn your business and support it yourself.

I once had two happy friends. They were happy all of the time and infuriatingly so at times for me personally.

There was my best friend Jerry Landry, whom I sometimes referred to as one of the "pollyanna capecodese" who was ALWAYS upbeat and optimistic seeking the laugh and good time which made him the perfect military off time companion.

Then there was Irene Simpson, who was somewhat more subdued, but entirely optimistic and looking at the bright side when she and I met in 1974 or so.

Both of these friends are gone from me now. Jerry passed away suddenly and Irene relocated upstate after getting married to another friend and having his baby.

Me, I'm still here and the same as well; but I will admit that I am not the bubbly happy fellow these other two might project regarding themselves. I do however, tend to joke around — but ONLY after taking good care of business.

My priorities certainly have changed over the years. It used to be "fun first" then "business".

Today is Happiness Happens Day. It is held under the auspices of the Secret Society of Happy People (SOHP) which was founded by one Gail Johnson in 1998.

This group celebrates the expression of happiness and encourages their membership as well as others to recognize their happy moments and think about happieness in their daily life.

It is a part of a bigger observance known as Happiness Happens Month ... which is held in August no less. The underlying purpose of both Happiness Happens Day and Month is to share happiness and to encourage people to talk and think about happiness.

There are a couple of reports regarding an alleged hacker breech of MySpace and LinkedIn claiming posession of millions of Yahoo accounts.

Yahoo says it is aware of the claim, that it is unsubstantiated and under investigation.

This hacker, known as "peace" has attempted to sell MySpace and LinkedIn credentials before.

Attempts to contact many of those email addresses proved undeliverable.

Now then, in our never ending fear of the inevitable hacks we may be certain of one thing: there will also be less than credible claims to throw us off track.

While I have a yahoo account which I am going to use until I get a replacement to evade the evil empire verizon ... I have changed my very lengthy and complex password yet again.

This tedium which is our failure to enact reliable security should abate with the advent of these new "exploit detection" servers DARPA has solicited which appear quite promising in the threads.

I hope you're as sick of this crap as I am.

I've been hitting the various tech news outlets and remain amazed that the gamers are all alive, well, and exceedingly active.

I recall my 'oldie but goodie' gaming days which began with the SciFi horribilis first person shooter from Id Software called "Doom" and it's various sequels.
 

I progressed through a number of similar offerings with which I was very happy until some unknown point in my life where work precluded all such diversions and I became this gameless tech worker who existed to go to work and that was about it.

I chalk it all up to the oppressive, lying, cheating, stealing world of education in the state technical education system with their moron managers who would only disclose that part of the truth they wanted you to hear and otherwise did everything they could to manipulate the lowly instructors at their lying beck and call.

I am so happy to be done with that life ... but I never regained that penchant for sitting at my workstation and indulging those gaming fantasies I once loved so much.

It is a sad but relevant note that the process of earning a living changes us. I was once happy go lucky and care free. Now I am immersed in those activities which make me useful and they are sucking up my existence like a black hole.

What little spare time I have remaining is strictly for my mother by choice. No one else gets anything. I used to have time for everything and everybody but it simply is no longer practical so I can no longer squander any.

So you who continue to indulge that urge to lose yourself in a those massively multiplayer online role-playing games which caught my fancy early on and held me so tightly in their grip for a number of blissful years I salute you.

Me ... I simply don't have the time anymore. Priorities have precluded my gaming though it remains alive and well in the threads of those news feeds I often read.

I've noticed a style riding around on the streets where I live.

Individuals sporting dew rags on mopeds.

Pondering the fashion statement I am sent to my past when my good friend lost his driving privileges for about 10 years and rode a minibike — essentially a lawnmower motor attached to a small frame with throttle and seat.

I keep wondering if these persons I see now are of similar circumstances of my friend who rose above his problem past to gain several vehicles having passed in his monte carlo less than a mile from his house.
 

Now I could never ride a minibike because I think I'm too heavy ... and a moped would likely be out of the question as well unless it was one of those 500 cc things I've been looking at.

Besides, the entire notion of riding a motorized bike of any kind is pretty much anathema to my travel standards, being a creature of those comforts afforded by enclosed cabs with upholstery, good suspensions, and air conditioning.

A dew rag ... though probably appropriate to my bald sweating noggin would likewise be unlikely as I decline to assume that ethnic connotation it implies.

Suffice it to say I'll remain the old fellow I am and driving a real vehicle with seat belts I seldom use and air conditioning on maximum.

It's not really a redneck thing; more so one of creature comfort and to a lesser extent — style.

In the fight against aedes aegypti mosquitoes, vector for the dreaded Zika virus which is the latest of those scourges to beset the world funding is running out as the battle escalates.
 

This is due to the inaction of congress which recessed without bothering to address the issue beforehand.

Unfortunately, this is the nature of our government anymore. Chalk it up to the myriad failures of Obama and his ilk. He who has the audacity to declare Trump unsuitable as President of the United States when he of all people is the least suitable and qualified of all.

Today is the feast of St Nicodemus.

Nicodemus was member of the Pharisee sect known as a master and doctor in Israel long before to his conversion to Christianity and afterward.

He was referred to as a "Jewish Chief" and was likely a senator of Jerusalem.

Brought to the path of virtue by Christ himself, he became a follower and defender of Christ before the Pharisees who cast him from the Temple for his beliefs and retired to St Gamaliel for the remainder of his life.

Nicodemus is mentioned three times in the Gospel of John:

• He visits Christ to discuss His teachings (John 3:1–21).
• He reminds others in the Sanhedrin that the law requires that a person be heard before being judged (John 7:50–51).
• He provided the customary embalming spices and assisted Joseph of Arimathea in preparing the body of Christ for burial (John 19:39–42).

I'm sitting here watching Cloverfield on Hulu. It's appropriate given the terrible news of the day.

My former colleague Emmett Tolbert was killed on Friday July 29, 2016 as the result of colliding with an automobile at the intersection of Broadriver and Beatty Roads in Columbia at about 10:25 p.m.

Word is that his wife was seriously injured in the accident and they have young children to suffer these consequences.

He was riding his beloved Harley Davidson motorcycle without a helmet — but the facts regarding the collision have not been publicized and all I can really do is offer my condolences to the family as they endure this tragedy which has befallen them.

Not being particularly adventurous anymore I have been pretty much one to traverse my 4 mile one way commute and park my vehicle in my yard specifically to avoid such calamity because there is no drivers education in South Carolina as there was when I was in school and I'm afraid it has become painfully obvious.

Add to this a public safety department primarily concerned with ticketing people for seat belts and the problem becomes a reality of poor driving that actually eclipses this petty seat belt law which should be repealed.

So here we have a 43 year old who was happy with his life, family and work who will be returned to the Earth from which he came.

I'm sorry for the pain his family endures regarding the tragedy and wish them all well in the future. I hope to hear more about his wife as time progresses but they were two in love and happy with that complementary nature of their existence. All the more tragic from my perspective.

Rest in peace.