Auld Lang Bang! Goodbye 2013

This year is coming to an end… Goodbye 2013!

What did we see in 2013 that reminds us we have to many things to help remind us?

Glove and Boots: 2013 Year in Review

The year 2013 brought to our attention how many things Americans could disagree on.

How to curb violence – gun control debate

Health care for all – 1st year for Healthcare.gov ends in a mess (President Obama wins Pinocchio award)

Racial tensions – debate over George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin self-defense case. (Meanwhile George Zimmerman’s original artwork sold for bid of $100,099.99 on eBay)

MSNBC Panel mocks photo of Romney holding adopted black grandson (Of course MSNBC is a non-biased news agency)

Government shutdown – Shut down parks but they still collected taxes (darn-it)

Meanwhile the federal government continues to spend money like drunken (apologies to all sailors will follow.)

IRS harassment of undesirable conservative groups became a storm that quickly went away (no value in tarnishing the reputation of an organization now put in charge of compliance with government mandated health care)

Finally put to rest all of the rumors about President Barack Obama born outside the United States (at least The Donald shut up about it)

NSA headquarters in Fort Meade MD.

Edward Snowden describes how the NSA works to track our movements and our communication (a real shame it works so badly as pointed out in next line.)

Another terrorist act on U.S. soil when two bombs explode at the Boston Marathon

We heard the word from the Supremes (Supreme Court), ruled the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional. (Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg became the first member of the Supreme Court to officiate a same-sex wedding)

Meanwhile we heard a small flap over the Duck Dynasty patriarch give his opinion of homosexuality (A&E makes a stand and then recants for the New Year)

Not to be outdone in the coming out department, John Bohener’s dog is announced to be gay (He’s not gay but is afraid of cats. OK, it’s a joke.)

Once again we’re reminded no matter how much muscle you pack or how many special effects you can come up with, there’s no one going to be as good at playing Superman as Christopher Reeve. (I’m just saying…)

The Techno World of 2013

ACER & ASUS end notebook production

New wireless standard 802.11ad promising blazing speeds over short distances was ratified. Delivering 7Gbps speeds over 60GHz frequencies and should appear as soon as next year.

Dell went private in $24 billion deal.

Leap Motion product introduced (Do you recall seeing the gesturing at computer screens in Minority Report?)

projectQ motherboard promises to boot any OS in under 10 seconds (Gigabyte USA creates a MicroATX form factor motherboard as an exclusive OEM project)

10 Gbps USB specification finalized as USB 3.1 (improved speed up from 5 Gbps and up to 100 watts of power delivery through the cable)

Nexus comes out with under $200 tablet (Tablet shipments to out-pace PCs by 2015)

Menwhile Lenovo saw huge increases in PC sales as competitor sales decline

HDMI 2.0 announced, permits 18 Gbps bandwidth for 60fps 4K video (gamers now in collective ecstasy)

Standards group wants one charger for all laptops (It’s about time!)

A research team out of the Netherlands produced a storage medium that can last a million years. (Standard magnetic disk drive storage lasts about a decade.)

A new particle discovery should permit 20 times denser hard drives.

RAM packs 1 TB of storage into a single chip (Memory prices still stable)

Microsoft released Windows 8.1 as a step towards regaining lost momentum in the OS market after less than stellar acceptance of 8.0

Solar Energy in 2013 wasn’t a big hit but the stock prices keep going up.

How about building a HackIntosh? Running OSX on non Apple PC’s.

Related articles

• Auld Lang Syne Isn’t Always Lame (gizmodo.com.au)
• Crew of trapped ship in Antarctic sing ‘Auld Lang Syne’ as they prepare surrounding area for helicopter rescue – @itvnews (itv.com)
• And Days of Auld Lang Syne (victoree.wordpress.com)

What will be . . .

Yesterday was another turning point for the United States. For some, the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn DOMA may have been seen as an end of the world moment; for others, it may be as a ray of light shining on a world mired in intolerance and hate. I understand the extremity of viewpoints and realize the emotion which dominates those views are in time diminished by witnessing the consequences aren’t what they initially perceived. Perhaps because I have lived through several phases of change in our country and it’s attitudes toward each other, I believe things will get better. Clearly civil rights, which afforded equality to all citizens in this country were a break through moment. Can anyone honestly suggest reversal of executive, legislative and judicial decisions surrounding this social change in our country, would be good for any of us? It took several hundred years, from the time the first European set foot on this hemisphere’s soil, up to the 1960’s for there to be an honest evolutionary emancipation of those whose ancestry can be traced back to Africa but were born in the US. It was to be as much of their birth right to have full and equal citizenship under our Constitution as any whose ancestry could be traced back to Europe.

Even after this long awaited social and civil restoration of all rights to every citizen of this nation, there were organizations which devotedly held belief in the supremacy of Caucasian heritage over those who were not. Over time, most of these organizations altered their views and organizational principles. For some of those organizations to remain viable, they began to embrace all of their brothers and sisters to the point where it’s as if there never was a division or an exclusion in the beginning. Records may show this discrepancy in those less than tolerant organizations, however for the more recently involved members, it is as if there never was a problem.

I have no desire to be involved romantically or sexually with someone of the same gender. I’m long past the concern to whom I should marry or whom I will be friends. I’ve known and had homosexual friends from over 40 years ago, and this still didn’t alter my sexual choice. I had a cousin, who was known to be gay, played around him as a child, sang songs with him while listening to his 45’s, rode together in the back seat of a car on long family trips and that didn’t affect me choosing to volunteer for the Marines during the Viet Nam war or getting married and raising 4 children. Perhaps if anyone else is so concerned about how it will affect your children or someone else’s children, rest assured they will be who they are no matter what you believe.

Icon for Wikimedia project´s LGBT portal (Portal:LGBT). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I believe an expanding tolerance for LGBT rights will be the result in yesterday’s decision by the Supreme court. Obviously no one can predict the future but if the recent civil rights history has demonstrated, prejudice eventually melts away and previously held convictions of intolerance wither with those who also do. When intolerance, hatred, discrimination, disdain and disfellowship are held in full public view, the once accepted principles of injustice or intolerance become dust to be dissipated in the winds of time. I realize there will be many which find yesterdays decision a folly or worse a sin against all that is holy and to those who feel that way, I wish you well. Time may heal your wounds but the inevitable happens even when you reluctantly and willfully attempt to obstruct progress.

Related articles

• Q&A: Rep. Brian Sims, PA’s First Openly Gay Legislator, On The Day That DOMA Died (philebrity.com)
• Civil rights leaders dealt ‘a devastating blow’ (tv.msnbc.com)
• The 1965 Voting Rights Act: Born in Alabama and died in Alabama? (al.com)
• Anthony Kennedy: “The first gay Justice” (salon.com)
• Huckabee Has Absurd Reaction To Gay Marriage Rulings (huffingtonpost.com)

Education leads toward understanding & tolerance.