Let there be light

The Bible, the Book of Mormon, and other scriptural texts are full of symbolism that uses light. God is light and uses light; those who oppose Him work in darkness (see the links in this sentence for some examples). I've noticed a phrase that is used repeatedly in the Book of Mormon: "God worketh not in darkness." Of course, we are encouraged to emulate Him.

There are many ways to apply this idea. I'd like to focus on honesty and openness.

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Different ways of looking at programming

People are frequently mystified by the fact that I do things with computers. From their reactions, you'd think that because I program, I'm some sort of intellectual demigod. When I talk with them a little more, it becomes clear to me that many people don't know what programming is like, so they imagine something much more difficult and specialized than it is (it turns out that your computer is not made out of magic, despite this amusing article).

As is the case with any profession, it takes a lot of work to do it right. I'm not minimizing the training that other programmers and I have received. But we're not superhuman - even if most of us claim to be.

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The problem with girl power

I’m all about empowering women. Those who know me well know this. Lots of people seem to see the same issues that I see. At least, they see some of what I see. It’s common for people to promote women’s rights in print (both physical and virtual), in movies, and in music. I’m all for it. But popular statements about girl power are frequently counterproductive to the empowerment of women.

Allow me to illustrate with some lyrics from Beyoncé, Shania Twain, and Rihanna.

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Flirting today

Flirting is hard these days. It's not that there aren't good people to meet. It's not just that flirting has always been hard. There are societal effects in place today that add difficulty that, to my knowledge, has never existed before. Please forgive me as I indulge in stereotypes – and don’t wear the shoe if it doesn’t fit.

Men have to deal with the possibility of being branded as "creepy." A man becomes creepy when he violates social protocol, as it is perceived by others. This is frequently unfair to the men in question: as much as we’d like to think that there are universal standards, or even societal standards, everyone is a little different and has different rules. We all communicate differently (in fact, I have an entire blog post about it), so a woman may reject a man in a way that is both clear and gentle to her, but that doesn’t communicate rejection to him at all. The fault here belongs to both parties, but calling him a "creeper" places all the blame on him. To further complicate matters, men are encouraged to break social protocol for the women they love – as long as he doesn’t go too far, a man can express sincerity by going beyond social norms. But it only works when she’s interested; if not, going beyond is unquestionably creepy.

Some women experience something remarkably similar;

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The attention span I never had

I was bored a lot as a kid. And I do mean a lot. It seemed like adults always just wanted me to be quiet and not bother them. It chafed, but I wasn't in much of a position to argue. As the fictional Valentine put it in Ender's Game, "They have a word for people our age. They call us children and they treat us like mice" (p. 127).

My mind works really fast. It always has. I'm sure this contributed to the interminable nature of each car ride, church meeting, class, or social gathering. I'm reminded of something Data tells Captain Picard: "0.68 seconds sir. For an android, that is nearly an eternity." (Star Trek: First Contact -  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117731/quotes#qt0455868). Maybe all the other kids were just as bored as I was. I'm not sure. But having a quick mind definitely didn't help.

It may be surprising to some of my readers that school bored me. Read the whole story...

Laptop is Overheating

Why do laptop's overheat?? How do I know that my laptop is overheating?

This a familiar dilemma to all owner's in recent years when their laptop's overheat.

Laptop overheating results to hardware failure and permanent damage. If you're the owner then I'm sure that you don' want that to happen. right? If you encountered this kind of problem the first thing you must do is to understand the cause of the problem and probably a solution will come-up. 

 A common root of overheating is when air vents  is blocked by dust. Laptop needs air vents to cool the heat inside the device. Through this blog, i will share to you on my idea on how to prevent  the cause of your favorite device to overheat and be damaged. Forever!!!!.

Problems Encountered when Laptops Overheat:

• system crashes and  freezing
• computer shuts down suddenly for no reason or maybe the temperature is too hot
•  when blue screen of death appears!
•  computer damage and my require replace of major parts(motherboards and graphic cards)

Causes for Laptops to Overheat

• overkill use of laptops causes laptop to heat
• gaming causes laptop to over heat

Health issue is a concern when a laptop is overheating. Reviews show that regular user's position their laptop's  from the name it self "laptop" on their laps. Studies show that from overheating causes from sterility to burned genetilla. Advise to us sperm lovers avoid placing your laptop's on your love if you to see more of your genes!

If your laptop is still in warranty, don't waste time and go  directly to the manufacturer and ask for replacement to avoid wasting your money! Don't Just stand their! Replace your laptop now!

First blog of the year!!

The forest for the trees

I’ve lived in Utah for several years now and I don’t know how many times I’ve heard about Logan Canyon in the fall, but I hadn’t seen Logan Canyon in the fall since I was young – probably about 12. And my brother lives in Logan, which means that I really had no excuse to miss out. Since I’m on fall break, I drove up to Logan and my brother and I drove up the canyon. We went for a little hike and drove around and talked.
I was surprised by the colors; they weren’t as vibrant as I remembered. I also was surprised by how sparse the coloring was; every brightly colored tree had a bunch of dying autumn grass around it. At first, I was a little disappointed – and then I had a thought: all of the colors together look like autumn. Subdued browns are as much a part of autumn as the brilliant reds, yellows, and oranges. They may not be as exciting or as aesthetically pleasing, but they are part of autumn – and there is beauty in that alone. I’m beginning to see what my roommate Jason has been so excited about since the air started getting brisk.
It’s hardly as if I don’t enjoy the beauty of autumn. And it’s hardly as if I don’t enjoy the cool, clean feeling of autumn’s morning air. But I know that these things precede the long, cold, dark winter, so the change in the weather has filled me with dread instead of with wonder. Now that I’ve seen autumn’s beauty more clearly, I wonder how much I’ve been missing.
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Gently destroying walls

I spend a lot of my time visiting people. Sometimes I talk; sometimes I listen. As I'm unabashed about sharing my opinions and feelings, I think some people will be surprised to know that I enjoy listening. Of course, there are things that don't interest me: mindless chatter, pleasantries (especially in large amounts), and so on. But if you want to talk about something significant, you'll usually find that I'm a captive audience.

As I've realized how much I like to listen to people, I've learned to change my behavior in ways that encourage people to talk about the things that matter to them - and because those things matter to them, they matter to me. I've noticed that many people genuinely care about others but have trouble being satisfied with their conversations. I hope that my experiences will be useful to them. I also hope that my friends, especially those whose temperaments differ from my own, will add their thoughts in comments.

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Why I call myself Petey

My family doesn't really do nicknames. I think that it comes from my family's very proper culture (especially by Californian standards) and from my parents' desire to remind us of our Biblical namesakes. I'd been called Pedro occasionally as I grew up, but it never really stuck. "Stevie Wonders" didn't long outlast my brief moment of 4^th-grade recess football glory. Everyone I knew called me Peter for my entire childhood.


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I’m an old man: What I learned from Taylor Swift

I own copies of two Taylor Swift albums and a single. This is about as much as I own by any artist, excepting the Beatles. I'm pretty sure my liking for her music flies in the face of the stereotypes that are typically applied to me: most computer geeks don't (openly) listen to her, and I'm not sure that most men my age do, either. Despite the seeming incongruity, I love what she has done. She has a gift for melody and another for words. More importantly, her songs about love are usually about love and not lust - a sadly rare distinction but one that is very important to me.

As with the work of any artist, some of Taylor's works speak to me less than others. For example, I like that Mean fights back against abuse but think that the vengeful attitude it portrays won't solve the problem. I have a problem with The Way I Loved You because I've felt like the nice guy who finished last too many times. I don't really get the whole kissing in the rain thing (Taylor: feel free to contact me if you'd like to educate me). And some of her songs have rubbed me wrong because they are so wholly about emotion - and because they sometimes depict an unrealistic idea of emotional satisfaction. Being as left-brained as I am, this is fairly natural. But, at least in this last regard, I'm beginning to experience a change of heart.

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Geeks in large groups

Three weeks ago, I attended CAV, an academic conference about formal verification (proving that computers actually do what we think they do). Yesterday, I attended a practice run for some of the talks that will be given at SIGGRAPH, a conference about computer graphics. Despite the fact that the two conferences treat very different topics, I had a very similar experience with both events. Some of my observations are of an academic nature. The rest are insights into geek culture.
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DRM only makes things worse

Intellectual property is a fiction that we create to encourage innovation. By fiction, I mean that it is contrary to the nature of ideas for them to be limited. Ironically, a system that protects intellectual property discourages innovation: because derivative works are one of many ways to diminish the value of a work, the right to create them must be restricted. The irony of limiting innovation to foster innovation should not be lost; however, without such limitation, innovators could not hope to benefit financially from their inventions. The idea is to strike a balance: limit knock-offs enough to encourage innovation but still allow innovators to build on each other's work.

In an attempt to create such a balance, the Constitution of the United States of America gives congress the right to create laws that give exclusive rights to creators for a limited period of time. The idea is that in that limited period of time, innovators can be rewarded. After the time period elapses, other people may innovate further, improving upon what has already been created.


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Behind blue eyes

Introduction

People look at me quizzically when I tell them that I had a nasty temper as a kid; if they've met me since junior high, they usually have a hard time imagining me being angry. The truth of the matter is that I did have a nasty temper when I was young and that I've changed dramatically in more recent years.

This post is very personal - I don't often talk about these things. But a conversation I had recently convinced me that my experiences might be beneficial to others. I hope that by writing this, I'll enable readers to help themselves or people they know to eradicate anger from their lives.

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Other drivers aren't always sociopaths

Road rage is an interesting phenomenon: people who are usually level-headed become irritated - or even irate - when people drive poorly or aggressively around them. I've given some thought to road rage because  I've mostly removed anger as a part of my life, but I frequently get annoyed with other drivers.
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Simple ways to troubleshoot laptop battery problems

Laptops are a godsend for those who are always on the move, but they are heavily dependent on battery power.  Your laptop is nothing but a piece of hardware if the batteries are not functioning well enough. Most laptop users get frustrated when their laptop batteries get drained on a regular basis, and many mistakenly buy new batteries, only to go through the same problem as before.

Let’s take a look at some of the common laptop battery problems and check out some simple solutions for the same: 

Problem 1: When you plug in the adapter in the power outlet, the battery indicator on your laptop does not flash. When you switch on the laptop, the battery notifier displays Plugged In, Not Charging, or the battery charging indicator bars does not light up.

Problem Areas:

• Battery Adapter
• Laptop motherboard
• System BIOS
• Battery

You need to follow the isolation technique to diagnose the root problem. Remove the batteries and install them again and check if they are being charged when connected to the adapter.

Step 1:

Borrow a compatible adapter from your friend and connect it to your laptop. If the battery notifier indicates that the batteries are being charged, you can conclude that your adapter is faulty.

Solution: Replace the adapter.

Step 2:

If the batteries are not being charged after changing the adapter, then your DC power jack on your laptop may be loose or damaged. Go to Step 3 to verify if the DC power jack is not damaged.

Step 3: 

The laptop BIOS plays an important role in charging the batteries when the system is off. The BIOS contains information about the connected AC adapter and the installed battery pack. The information/values change in real-time in the Device Information section of your BIOS when you connect or disconnect the adapter. If the AC adapter is listed as “Unknown Device installed”, then you have to change the adapter.

Step 4: 

It can so happen that your BIOS is showing the adapter as an unknown device because of hardware issues. If so, you need to update your BIOS to resolve such issues. Download the latest BIOS drivers from the laptop manufacturer’s website and run the utility. The system will restart, and BIOS will be updated.

Step 5:

If none of the steps given above work, then it may so happen that the problem lies with the batteries themselves. If possible, try swapping compatible batteries and see if they are being charged through the adapter; if they are being charged, it means that your laptop batteries are faulty.

Solution:  Replace the batteries.

Problem 2: Battery overheating.

You sometimes notice that the batteries in your laptop become very hot when you are working.

Solution:  If you face frequent overheating issues, contact your laptop manufacturer and get the batteries replaced.

Problem 3: The charge won't last long enough even when you charge the batteries overnight.

This is very common in the case of older batteries and occurs when you don't let your batteries discharge completely and recharge frequently. Lithium-ion batteries need not be discharged completely. Recharge them when your system issues a low battery warning.

Solution: Allow the batteries to discharge completely and recharge them only when they need to be recharged.

Problem 4:  You have not used your laptop for a long time and now, it won't start on battery power.

In this case, you should remove the batteries if you are not going to use the laptop for a while. If you keep the batteries inside the laptop for a long time, the charge slowly gets drained.

Solution: Recharge the batteries.

Problem 5: My new laptop doesn't start.

If you have purchased a new laptop, you should know that the batteries need to be charged for a few hours before using it for the first time since they are new.

Solution: Keep your laptop connected to an electrical outlet for at least 10-12 hours before using it for the first time. You can derive maximum performance from your battery after it is recharged 2-3 times at the outset.

Problem 6:  I removed the batteries and now, my laptop won't start after inserting the batteries again.

If your laptop doesn't start after inserting the batteries again, you should check if you are inserting the batteries the right way. If you had removed the batteries a month back and kept it in an unused state, then it may be possible that all the charge from the batteries has been drained out. 

Solution: Recharge the batteries.

Problem 7: My laptop works on an AC adapter, but the batteries don’t get charged.

If your laptop is working on an AC adapter, then there may be some problem with the batteries. Remove the batteries and clean the connectors. Also check the batteries and connectors for any visible signs of damage.

Solution: Try charging the batteries in another laptop to ascertain that the batteries are not faulty.

Laptop batteries are an important component of your laptop, and you should follow the right maintenance procedures to extend their life. Replace the batteries only if you are sure that they are faulty.