A Joyous Perspective on Communications: What's the state of your 'Server'?

It's Friday, and time for another Friday Night Thought Tale Hour with the Henderson's. This week, we've been hearing a lot about servers, of the computer technology kind. In this new age of electronic communications, servers have become vital to the growth and survival of this new trend of instantaneously giving someone a piece of your mind. A server isn't just a piece of equipment, it's a bonafide system. It is the geekified way to point to where things are stored. Servers, and their connection to the outsides of our worlds, quite literally hold a large part of our history of thought, purpose, and nature. There are many words of wisdom that speak to how the words of a human hold the true source of their 'heart' or character. If so, then there are servers full of evidence regarding our human nature. Perhaps this is why so many strive to keep them private and guarded.

So tonight, I ask you: What's the state of your personal Server?

A quick tutorial on what a server is: For those stuck in the 80's.

Before I get into the basis for this week's aside, here's what all the hoopla is over about 'servers'. A server is a computer which distributes information via a network. The server is like a power plant which gets all the important information out to different suburbs, buildings and apartments. It does so through a network, which is like the electricity lines coming from the plant.

Any questions?

 Whenever you are doing something computer related,  the server is the first line of contact. It is the server that assigns each job to the most appropriate resource, gives it a priority ranking and places it in a line or queue. If there wasn't an order, the server would get overloaded trying to process all of the requests at the same time and the result would be an inefficient, slow or broken system.  It's when you press 'send', 'save' or 'post' and all you see is a little spinning thingy at the top left. It doesn't matter how many times you press the command, the server is basically telling you to simmer down and wait. A machine is telling you to wait. And millions of us do it  a thousand  times every day. We are willing to wait because it is still faster than the old fashioned way. Hmmm.. But I wonder. Could the time spent waiting really be the time needed to consider the action requested?

Servers are becoming the self-portraits of yesteryears.

Mona 2015?

Even the most well-edited and maintained of Servers will most likely not present your best side at all times.  It's more like a candid shot of you -  without makeup. Before you stop and declare that you "don't have a thing to hide" or that you "want people to know the real me", consider ALL of the people who might be looking at you through these electronically colored glasses. People who don't have any human contact with you. They just see you in bits and bytes.

I wonder....

My Great-Grandmother
Dora Munson

What will our Grandchildren see when they go to their archival access points to investigate, 'who was Gramma?' for their upcoming class project? Most likely, their research will be far from how I did mine in Grammar School. Who remembers digging through the old box of pictures, or going to a family members house, and seeing those beautiful portraits on the walls in ornate frames? It's not that there will be no evidence of special moments, poignant remembrances, and lovely interactions. But how buried will they be under all the rubbish? From what we hear in the news, the real truth is very hard to find.

And now, a small aside: A case for letter writing.

I miss letters, and especially receiving them in the mail. It's probably why I still buy birthday cards and write somewhat long messages in them, using the lost art of penmanship. Even those written on a word processor and printed out just carry a special feeling of thoughtfulness. I don't really need to see the edits and drafts, I have the final product. A handwritten note might be the 10th version of what was created, but you have no way of realizing this.

There is no server stashing away the deleted drafts. It is complete and lasting for as long as the paper will hold it. It includes all the misspellings, grammatical errors, and imperfections. And the words seem to mean just a little more when you know that the person probably read them a few times before folding them up, addressing it and stamping it. It's not boring because the juicy details are even juicier when they are allowed to ripen on the vine. Not fired off in a fit of electronic passion, but refined and considered.

Chris' letter to Santa

And very few of them were more than 10 pages. Your hand would grow tired. You learned to say more with fewer words. Pare down the message to just what really mattered. Now, we get 10,000 emails and Legislation of 2,000 pages. It's just too damn easy to lay down the lines on the screen and send it off to the print server. I say we older folks do our best to pass along the art of the written letter as long as possible, even if it's just a thank you note. Or a letter to Santa.

Two edged sword: Saving what's vital, but also, saving what's minimal.

This week, we observed the lives of two very smart humans being altered just because of where they kept their communications. It's all about the location of their server. Not just what was said, but where it was being kept. Did it ever occur to you that being a Public Servant would mean that you had to communicate without privacy? Long gone are the days of the 'speak easy's' and archways where one could whisper a message discreetly which would be heard on the other side by a waiting accomplice.
And, in many ways, that's a good thing. But how does it transfer to John and Jane Q. Citizen?

Instantaneous cuteness, squared.

I would be disingenuous if I said that a fully yearned for the old days of communications and record keeping of such. I cherish my instant and open ability to reach out to those I adore, and it pleases me to know that all of our interactions are somewhere for me to search if needed. But there is also something a little Orwellian in thinking of 'Big Brother's' ability to peek in on me at will.

I suppose that just like any technological evolution, it's really up to the end users to monitor its sprawl. Perhaps it is not any coincidence, that there are public debates about rights to privacy vs. public safety at the same time we learn of haphazard uses of email by those in trusted positions. A casual remark made in a tweet 5 years ago becomes a campaign buster. How far do we want the spy bots to invade our lives?

In fact, no one is forcing us to use it.

So tonight, we will stop and consider some of the ways that we can more closely regulate what is going into and onto our own personal Server. Maybe we will write a few more handwritten letters, make a few more personal visits, and frame a few more of our favorite pictures. I created something I'm going to call, "Halt and Catch Fire", which, is a phrase that defines what happens when your computer is infected with a bug and is just too overwhelmed to continue. It's time to restart and to clean out the virus in your server. CHEERS, FRIENDS!

Joy's "Halt and Catch Fire" Cocktail***

1/2 oz Effen Salted Caramel Vodka
1/2 oz Smirnoff Fluffy Marshmellow Vodka
1/2 oz Van Gogh Rich Dark Chocolate Vodka
1/2 oz Kaluah Midnight
1/4 oz White Lightening
Marshmallows

Keep all Vodkas in the freezer at least 3 hours in advance. Soak the marshmallows in the White Lightening. Pour Kaluah in first, then add other Vodkas. Place marshmallows on top, and light. Sip it slowly, because it has a kick. Can also be put on ice after you get over the fire effect.

***Always drink responsibly. Never drive after consuming alcohol.