Why writing rules

Can get confused about writing I think, as have been confused and realized wanted to talk to others about areas of confusion about writing.

Like, wrote an open source program years ago, and eventually started this blog to help promote and support it. So am I a writer?

Wrote code for computers, and write blog posts as well as much other but consider myself to be a wannabe writer as do NOT make money from my writing.

But what if I wrote songs? Would I think of myself as a wannabe songwriter?

People say writer and I was indoctrinated to think fiction writer who actually has made money with a book that has sold well.

That is messed up folks.

Writing built human civilization and continues to build, like with code I wrote that lead me to create this blog. Is not about money and MOST writing is not fiction.

So why the emphasis on fiction? To tell people that being a writer is hard and that few can survive at it. So just leave writing to the special people society blesses with money for pleasing it.

Because writing is the most powerful tool available to human beings in general.

Thankfully, I wrote open source and my code to help Java developers write code--is still mine.

Coders have had writing they exchanged for a salary to people who can barely code who made BILLIONS from it. But we were told--being a writer is hard. Better to have a boss, be told what to do, when to do it, and where to do it, for all of your adult life until you can retire. Then put out to pasture then you can rest.

Were taught to behave. Were taught to be controllable.

Because writing is very powerful and writing is key to human civilization.

So I talk songwriters. Sure, is hard to make money as one for many, but do they exchange their songs for a salary? I think jingle writers do.

Two occupations are afflicted with giving writing in exchange for some money: press and software developers.

Some small group got billions on code handed to them for a salary. Got billions and wasted billions while acting like were geniuses.

Others pushed our species to brink of extinction controlling press writers with salaries.

Were young occupations where modern versions emerged in 20th century. Are very young compared to songwriting. Press writing and writing computer code were ruthlessly exploited because people did not know better.

Was lack of experience made seem reasonable to hand writing away. Songwriters do not.

Owning my own writing now makes sense to me. Will not accept foolishness that I should hand away to anyone.

Am like a songwriter now. Writing songs is as old as humanity while writing them down is only as old as human civilization.

Because writing built human civilization.

One human species? Yeah.

The urge to group humans by those who invented race was not just about delusions of their own superiority, was also about an easier handle.

Like in the United States for American slaveowners, group punishment required group identification.

But is like with the label Asian as used in my country. To an American racist, if you have some people from China, some people from South Korea, North Korea and Japan in the same room? They are to THAT racist all SIMPLY Asians.

And said person may make various claims about them as a group, as if their nationalities were irrelevant. But also if they are subordinate in some way, like are employees at same company? That racist might talk of a group policy--towards Asians.

So is also a way to lower the importance of human difference. Like by claiming that frictions for historical reasons between Koreans, Chinese and Japanese are irrelevant for that person, an American racist can in effect claim that such things are tiny in comparison to a perceived greater dominance.

Does give me problems will admit, as various titles for groupings in the US have shifted finally to Black for many, or African American. But for Black folks who go visit the African continent, can be jolting have heard: In a place where your skin color does not supposedly provide any grouping at all.

Being dark skinned in Africa? Why would that be considered a race indicator?

Of course race is a social construct, and we can trace out why was constructed, but does not change continuing impacts. Like slave masters also wanted to be able to whip their slaves for punishment, but whipping an adult, never whipped? That person can go into shock and die. A solution might brutally use to prepare for the shock? -- Beat children to get them ready for the whip as adults. Was myself beaten with a leather belt by my father so brutally at 6 years old, my legs were bleeding. Slavery ended over 150 years ago. We have to face these things though.

Talk more on my blog Lost in Commentary: Facing the legacy of American slavery

So why not talk these things? I find the subject fascinating even though can be distressing. But one of the weird things about racists is the belief that they had awesome ancestors which makes them awesome too. So have noticed this insistence as if the history of American slavery somehow diminishes my ability. It does not.

Have talked some on my blog Seriously Commercial: Greek slaves would have laughed

People can have all kinds of wild ideas: especially when people wish to diminish or dominate others. But what YOU believe? Is still really up to you. I say that to also say: no excuses.

In our times the web lets truth flow freely. So you can read up on humanity, and learn how we are one species. You know, if you're actually curious, you know, about being human.


James Harris

Our common global potential

Am paying more attention to how often notice local stories from around the globe. Also other ways when find myself considering distant nations by various measures, where am learning much about people there. Which to me is a great benefit of the ease of information distribution of the web.

But also means am looking at people getting global attention.

Where do think we need to talk it that way. And have a feeling that often? Is not felt that way for those folks! Where will go meta with my own experience.

Meta just means: self-referential

And self reference helps me keep my facts straight. Like February 2004, decided to put up an open source project for software developers with vague ideas of what MIGHT happen. Wanted good things but was wary then of what I thought might happen if did ok.

Now over fourteen years later, is a relatively small open source project where has at best that I noticed managed a bit over 9 downloads per day, but has been less than that lately. Where that is from a LOT of countries, though again not as many as plenty of other open source projects with which I have compared.

Such things helped me greatly. And besides some web stats for a long time told myself could not notice much impact at all. But as the years have gone by, and have other things that pull global interest as well, have finally accepted--did change my life and in good ways too.

Learned much, and am better appreciating the global reality which gave me the experience, which is web enabled.

Ended up tossing just about everything I thought I knew about what happens if you get global attention. Reality is cooler though. So much speculative before realize had no reason to know better.

Where that POTENTIAL is there for any of us in the modern age, as even if you do not share at all, or are not even on the web, so would not be reading this post more than likely, someone else might share. And next thing, some other person is someone am considering, as ponder to myself the global reality of the web which means I am learning a person's story or something about that person, despite being so distant otherwise.

Which I think is often great. Definitely helps us appreciate core humanity I think. Is worth it then, to ponder how often is true for you. As definitely helps to get a better picture of people all over the world, and not just from nations which used to grab...I think the United States did.

Am not sure. Grew up in this country so realize have no clue how much attention Americans tend to grab around the globe really. We do tend to talk like we get a lot, but am more suspicious lately.

Regardless, am sure will change! Or should say, will continue to change, as web opens up our planet, and knowledge flows more easily around the globe.


James Harris

Return of the thin client

When I took my first college course back in 1982, the computer I worked on was not a desktop general purpose computer, but a mainframe. Access was through a terminal--the original thin client.

I remember sitting at the screen those first excited times, happy to be finally able to play with a real live computer after having watched so much sci-fi and then disappointed with how little I was able to do. But then again I was only 12. My mom had put me in a (boring) computer course at the local community college.

Regardless, the reality for computer use for quite a while was access to a mainframe from a terminal, which for some has never changed, while for most the pc, or personal computer was the general purpose device that gave them their first computer experience.

However, the thing is so powerful that for most it is a mysterious box. And for experienced computer users like myself, it is often a mysterious box, and as the disk drive light flashes, and I can hear it whirring, I often wonder to myself, what in the hell is it doing?

Today more specialized computing allows people more precision in fitting their needs, from these incredible mobile phones that do just about anything, to e-readers and who knows what else, you can specialize.

The web has emerged as kind of the ultimate mainframe.

And we can plug into it through our general purpose desktop computers, but I've found that often that is a waste of power as I spend all day on the web, doing things like, well like typing this blog post!

Why should I have a very powerful general purpose desktop wasting cycles on just using the super computer most people know as the World Wide Web?

So I'm quite happy that thin clients are back in force with the Chrome OS, and I kind of get an extra kick as a few years ago I was predicting the rise of the BOS, short for Browser Operating System.

The post was May 2008, and I titled it somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but I think that name is appropriate. Little did I know at that time that it would be over three years before I'd find time to comment on a company putting one on the market.

But then again, with ideas often it takes a little while, and hey, I get to toss out that I was one of the people predicting such a thing some time ago. Reading over what was a bit of a rant I have to chuckle, but also I feel gratified. I was, after all, right I'm sure.

As computing becomes more specialized we all benefit. Efficiency--machines that don't waste their time, or ours--is the result. And hey, maybe I can spend less time wondering what in the hell the computer is doing, as I know what it is doing.

It is working, for me.


James Harris

iPhone apps making developers lots of money

Link above goes to: Newsweek

Quote from the source:

TECHTONIC SHIFTS
There’s Gold In Them iPhones
Some kid in his bedroom can make a million bucks just by writing a little application for the Apple phone.
By Daniel Lyons | NEWSWEEK
Published Dec 13, 2008
From the magazine issue dated Dec 22, 2008

Looks to me like Apple figured out some things that no one else did (and maybe even surprised themselves) as one reason I liked open source was the easy entry, so I could put out software without hiring a law firm and worrying about returns or getting sued. Or the other reasons for high start-up costs.

Apple figured out how to give developers low start-up, low hassle, with money.

How are they so smart?