Author: Jeff Hendricks

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To Micro-Blog, or not to Micro-Blog?

I’ve been in the blogging “business” for almost two decades now. My first blog was on Earthlink dial-up, way back in the 90’s. Writing my thoughts, sharing my experiences, teaching the lessons I’ve learned over the years. Asking hard questions, and working through the answers.

I was a blogger way before Facebook existed, before Twitter was even a thing. Then all of these “micro-blogging” sites popped up, which were geared towards a business model of advertising. They are an ADD’ers worst nightmare. There isn’t any meaningful discourse, only re-posted sound bytes, advertising, and virtual chain letters (and dank memes). There are now entire sites built around only reposting other people’s content (I’m looking at you, Pinterest).

I’m not interested in the spammy advertising model of any of these micro-blogging sites. I don’t care about likes, reposts, adverts, or clickbait headlines. I don’t care about shallow hit-and-run interaction. I could certainly do without all the visual noise and clutter.

What exactly am I gaining from participating in these time sinkholes? Am I using them to advertise something? If you’re not, chances are I don’t need them in my life, taking over my spare time. I certainly don’t need them. And I’ve been on almost all of them at some point. Yes, even Myspace. Sigh.

I think this speaks to how our communication, as a whole, has become largely trite and ineffective. I don’t enjoy using micro-blogging sites, because you never get more than scratching the surface. The superficiality of it all just makes me want to stop talking to shallow people. And because of the nature of the media, that’s all you ever get to see: people’s shallow thoughts. Meaningless “likes” and re-shares. There are very few people with new ideas, and even fewer who can articulate those ideas effectively. 99% of what we see and hear on social media is regurgitated pablum (and untrustworthy, at that).

So how shall we utilize the internet for its intended purpose of conveyance of ideas? Continue reading “To Micro-Blog, or not to Micro-Blog?”

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The Nine Laws: Part Five

If you haven’t read my previous installments on reviewing The Nine Laws, you can start here.

I haven’t written on this topic in quite a while. That’s partly because this installment has been one of the more difficult ones to write, as you’ll see.

The Fifth Law is Posture.

What is Posture? Not just your physical stance. It’s not just your political opinion.

Posture is your arrangement in the world.

Posture is the way in which we position ourselves, how we stand, physically and spiritually. When you see someone who always slouches, our human nature is to think of them as weak or lazy, because “strong” people don’t slouch. One of the reasons this works as a social indicator is because the vast majority of people aren’t consciously aware of their posture. The few that are aware tend to stand straighter, which indicates they’re generally more conscious, more aware of themselves and their surroundings.

It would benefit us then to pay attention to our posture, because it directly affects how others perceive us, and to a lesser extent how we perceive ourselves.

What is the flow of my engagement? It should be continuous reflection. No shading, no twisting, no corruption. Purity of purpose and motion. Continue reading “The Nine Laws: Part Five”

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Google: Redux

Once again, I’ve discovered that Google is killing off a product that I use on a regular basis. Sigh.

You may remember when they killed Reader, and then killed MyTracks. Now I hear they’re shutting down Google+ and Hangouts, which will get rolled into their corporate product package, or something. Maybe? Either way, it will join the extensive (and constantly growing) list of products in the “Google Graveyard.”

It reminds me that Google/Alphabet is a company aimed at big businesses, and not regular people like you and me. In fact, it never really was for regular people. It was always aimed at making advertising money through monetizing our search data. This shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone. This is how gigantic businesses work.

I’ll eventually have to look for a replacement for Hangouts. And in reality, I need to free myself from Google products in general. Even though they’re embedded in my phones. And I avoid using Facebook Messenger like the plague. Maybe Signal.org?

As with almost all social media apps, Google+ is dying a slow death because nobody uses it. Despite having a good feature set, people just weren’t going to join it unless everybody they knew was on it. It’s a catch-22. Everybody uses Facebook because everybody uses Facebook. It’s reached critical mass, like a black hole sucking in everything around it. All the other social media platforms have been relegated to museum curiosities. Twitter is spambot central. Tumblr is like a house of horrors. Gab.ai is a dumpster fire of litigation brought on by idiots. Diaspora has been around for ages and still has no adoption. I don’t even know what else is out there, because outside of Facebook’s event horizon, nothing else matters.

Well, I guess I shouldn’t just rant, though there is plenty to rant about. Ultimately, we’re complaining about free services, so what should we expect, right?

We’ve become spoiled by instant communication and information. We’ve lost the art of discourse through writing. No thought is required to post anything to social media.

This is largely why I keep blogging, year after year… it requires thought to put together blog posts.

Anyway… I’m looking at options for non-Google phone apps, and am trying out F-Droid on my phone. I don’t think I’ll be able to completely de-Google all my accounts, but I can certainly reduce the impact it has on my life.

In general, though, I am very dependent on technology, and I don’t need to be. It’s a convenience, and I’m not being made a better person with conveniences at my fingertips. I could say much more on that, but for now, I’ve said enough. More wake-up calls for the digitally enslaved.

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Time To Slow Down

So much has happened in the last few months. Where do I begin?

First, let me say I’m extremely thankful that there are people who actually still read what I write here.

Second, there have been huge changes in my life as of late. I started a new job (which I love, and am actually good at). My family joined a large church, participated in a local (to us) campus launch, and a year later, we ended up moving to a smaller, less hectic church environment. I’m slowly working on minimizing more things out of my life. I’m focusing on developing my relationship with God, and learning more about the Holy Spirit’s role in my life.

I’m playing music a lot. I’m working on cars a lot less. Remodeling the house. Teaching my kids. Serving my wife, and the church. Trying to keep a grip on everything.

I’m also still (after a long hiatus) co-hosting the awesome ADD Masterminds podcast.

But…

Continue reading “Time To Slow Down”

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I Literally Just Can’t

I have been frustrated lately. It seems as though God is trying to stretch me into things I wasn’t trying to stretch into. I’m having things thrown at me from every angle, and sometimes I can barely keep track of what day of the week it is, much less all the things people want me to do.

One of the things I want to prioritize is spending time with my kids. However, that’s hard to do when they’re teenagers, and don’t want to do anything with me. Or they want to do things with me that I can’t do. Makes it kind of hard. And I spend time taking care of them, cooking for them, cleaning up after them, playing with them, driving them places… any chance I get (when they’re not busy), I’m spending it with my kids. My dad never could do that with me. My kids have no idea how good they have it.

I’ve also got creative forces pulling me every which way, including writing another book, recording an album, and relaunching a podcast. Also rebuilding my ’65 Rambler. And possibly building more cosplay props. I’ve been asked to play in concerts, join in writer’s groups, attend ceremonies, organize activities, and who knows what else. I barely have the time and energy to do *one* of those, so certainly not all of them. Continue reading “I Literally Just Can’t”

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Data Highways and Information Overload

A while back, I posted about how I was using Evernote to manage information in my house and life. Probably a year ago, Evernote decided to change their user terms, and limit how many devices can use their free plans. So essentially, I can use it on my phone, and have to use the web version (which absolutely sucks) on everything else.

A while back, I also posted about how I was moving towards my own self-hosted cloud server, which has been actually working quite well. But as great as it is, ownCloud has a few limitations- namely, the lack of add-on features. Especially ones that work with my phone.

As a result, I’m sort of stuck in limbo with my data. I don’t have any really good solutions yet. I may go back to Evernote, but only if I feel like ownCloud isn’t meeting my needs. More than likely, though, I’ll just keep using ownCloud. I’m not sure the convenience is worth the cost, or risk of data breaches.

But at the end of the day, I’m in control of my data, and I am responsible for what happens to it. I’m not really comfortable with any large company selling my personal information for profit. Not to mention they’re obligated to hand my data over if the government decides they want to look at it.

Really, I don’t like the idea of Big Data to begin with. Sure, the information is easier to find and store. And I don’t have massive stacks of filing cabinets. But you want to know the truth? Once I’m gone, that information means nothing. How much of it do we really need in the first place? Continue reading “Data Highways and Information Overload”

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The Plan

I have thoughts on things.

My head is always full of thoughts on all kinds of things. Lots of things. Always.

Most of the time, it’s not important stuff. Such is the life of an adult ADD’er.

But sometimes…. sometimes, God gets a hold of me and I think about things that are important. Like “How am I going to multiply the gifts God has given me?” Or sometimes “How can I call myself a Christian when I fail all the time?” (I get this one quite frequently.)

Sometimes I get a wild idea to create something. And most of the time, before I can do anything about it, there’s a voice inside my head saying “Don’t bother. You won’t have time to do it the way you want. And you’re too distracted to finish it anyway.”

Sigh.

I have been asking God to give me clarity on this. I will always fight the battle of distractions, but I know God wants me to get through that barrier.

This is not for me… not to prove anything. I’ve already proved I can do things on my own. I need to rely on God for this.

I am getting to the point where I’m ready to do things again. I have a lot of things I want to do that I need to get out. And it’s going to require me to go into ADD Beast Mode© to get them done.

Continue reading “The Plan”

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The Nine Laws: Part Four

If you haven’t read them, start with my review of The Nine Laws, and subsequent part One, part Two, and part Three.

The Fourth Law is Endurance.

The word “endure” comes from the Latin root word “indurare” which means “to harden.” To Endure means to go through something “difficult, painful, or hard.” As opposed, of course, to not going through it, i.e. giving up.

Endurance is what separates good athletes (or warriors) from great ones. Most people have the capability to run, or to lift heavy things. But when you can do it repeatedly, or for extended periods of time, then you have endurance.

There are millions of websites that can show you how to develop physical endurance. It’s not that difficult, actually- the human body is phenomenal at adapting to a repeated exercise. If you progressively push yourself longer and longer, your body will gradually learn and adapt.

What there isn’t much information on, sadly, is Mental Endurance. And the most tragic thing about this is that without Mental Endurance, your physical endurance is practically worthless.

The principle of Mental Endurance can be embodied in the trait of Psychopathy: a complete removal from emotions. It is acceptance: not wishing things were different, but accepting them as they are.

Let’s ponder on this for a moment. Continue reading “The Nine Laws: Part Four”

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What I learned from Shounen Manga & Anime

“Shounen” is a term coined to describe Japanese comics and cartoons that are aimed at young men. The majority of these shows are targeted at teenage boys aged 12 to 18, and they all tend to gravitate around a common plot point: the ordinary main character becoming stronger and overcoming some seemingly impossible obstacle, and eventually unlocking his inner warrior/strength/purpose/champion.

These shows almost always center around competition- sometimes actual fighting, as in Boku No Hero Academia, and sometimes in sports, such as Haikyuu!! or Yowamushi Pedal. Sometimes it’s goofy stuff like Beyblades, or even cooking, like Shogekogu No Soma.

The idea, though, is that in each of these shows, they focus on sportsmanship and healthy competition. They don’t shy away from topics like ethics (in fact, there’s almost always a character who “bends” the rules and is frowned upon and shunned as the Bad Guy). They address things like motivations, purpose, personal development, strength, and training. And even in the case of the “Bad Guy” that nobody likes, their own motivations are usually revealed to be not entirely selfish. They also just want to win, they just don’t care what other people think of their methods (which is why nobody likes them).

I think one of the funniest things about the dialogue is when one character says “I will defeat you!” and their nemesis (usually the main character who is coming up through the ranks) says “I will defeat you, too!” It’s preposterous, but also kind of cool how their resolve allows them to each say “I will win” even when they both know one of them won’t. Maybe that’s a Japanese thing, but I like that it shows how each character honestly believes in their chances of success. Continue reading “What I learned from Shounen Manga & Anime”

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Free Speech As We Know It Is Dead

In the recent fallout after Gab.ai was banned from both the Apple App Store *and* Google’s Play Store, things have gotten interesting, and dangerous. At the same time, a well-known, notoriously antisemitic Neo-Nazi website was effectively erased from the internet without due process. During this whole debacle it was revealed that the entirety of the internet is controlled by only a few companies who can essentially censor the internet with impunity. And no one can stop them. (I’ll probably post more on this soon.)

Fast forward a few weeks: the “internet refugee” who was essentially erased from posting anything on the internet ends up on Gab.ai, which bills itself as a “Free Speech” platform. But when you look closer, you discover that the Gab.ai Terms of Service exclude posting content that is illegal, as subject to different jurisdictions. “But muh Freeze Peach!” you can hear the trolls crying. Sorry, but if you post something straight-up illegal, Gab.ai cannot protect you. And of course, everybody who could think more than a few steps ahead knew this was going to be tested (and proven) at some point. We’re not that surprised.

Now, this recent incident with the Neo-Nazis and Gab (and an unnamed Sci-Fi author) has sparked flames of indignation with the trolls: “How dare we get sued for posting whatever we want about anybody we want! Isn’t this a Free Speech site?” To which the answer is, There is no such thing as completely 100% free speech without consequences.

It means Free Speech, as they *thought* it was defined, does not exist. And the interesting part is, it really never did.

So what does that mean for people like me and you, who don’t necessarily espouse the ideals of radicals on either side, but still want the freedom to speak our mind? Continue reading “Free Speech As We Know It Is Dead”