Scott David Brown's Blog, page 3

Need a Lyft?

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Clever title eh? Okay, probably not, haha. However, yesterday I gave Lyft another shot, but not as a rider, as a driver. Back in February, I signed up to be a driver for the ride share company. The process was pretty painless, though the inspection mistaken a warning light in my car as a problem, I’m guessing it was regarding the parking brake. My car runs fine, so it was probably just someone not familiar with the Nissan LEAF.

The first time I started driving, it was a good experience. I had a friendly passenger who say in the front seat. The next two didn’t go quite as well. My second rider wasn’t terribly happy when I missed a turn, totally my bad, but wasn’t upset. My third ride was really short and went okay, but I forgot to unlock the doors!

Still, my little mistakes weren’t too bad, obviously. With Lyft and Uber, drivers use the app to get their rides and to see where to take them. Lyft doesn’t allow you to use their app for navigation, instead opting for a third-party app. Right when I got started with Lyft, they dropped Apple Maps support, which was disappointing, but I still had the choice between Waze and Google Maps. I’ve tried both, but I feel more comfortable with Google.

After my third ride, I let my anxiety get the best of me and gave up on Lyft. I’ve been out of work for several years (excluding my freelance writing job I had last year) and so the idea of having a regular job is kind of scary. However, I’ve still been looking at my options, applying to several jobs over the past few weeks.

Why go back to Lyft? When I make a mistake, I take it hard, so sometimes I need some distance from it. I think that was the case with Lyft. I also am working on handling my mistakes rationally, which doesn’t always work. I think it’s worth testing my fears of messing up and at least yesterday I didn’t feel like I did anything wrong. I did forget to unlock the doors with my first ride and I joked that I didn’t want him to leave! We had quite the rapport and represents the friendliness that I think a lot of Lyft riders have.

I don’t know if Lyft will become a steady job for me, but I do think I can do more with it than I originally thought in my electric car. For now, this is just going to be a way to deal with social anxiety and make a little spending money. I’m still going to look for a part-time job.

A new exciting feature coming for drivers is the ability to pick rides. Soon, drivers may get a list of rides that are scheduled in advance. I could then see what routes are available and what distance I would be traveling. Yesterday I gave two rides one after the other, and they were both local. I was happy that I didn’t have to drive far to get my riders.

 

Nissan Owner Appreciation Event

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Boy there’s nothing like driving an electric car! I’m never going back to gas again! I’m so grateful that Nissan took a risk on creating the Nissan LEAF! It’s worked out great. When I got my original Nissan Leaf back in 2011, not only was it their first model, it was also my first Nissan. I wasn’t sure I could convince my mom to go for it, but I’m glad she did!

For the last few years, Nissan has had a special event every year in an effort to keep their customers happy. One year there was a sweepstakes. This year it was a free multi-point inspection. For anyone who has a Nissan model sitting in their garage, they can drive down to their local dealership and have their car examined for free. It’s really just like getting a checkup for your car.

It was quite a nice thing for me since I bought my current LEAF used. I was confident the car was in good condition mechanically, but why not have Nissan look it over anyway? It passed with flying colors and since I was there, I had them replace the battery in my key fob for $8.

It may seem like a marketing gimmic, but I didn’t leave the dealership with a new car. I was only there for about an hour, watching Dr. Phil, haha. And while I plan on keeping my car for a long, long time, it’s nice to feel appreciated. It also makes me want to stick with Nissan too, so customer loyalty is probably important to the automaker. You have till June 30th to get your free checkup.

 

Coal Jobs Are NOT Coming Back

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I’m going to talk about coal today. This is a post I meant to make on Earth Day. I often talk about environmental issues on my blog, but I am also a human being and while I’m not a fan of coal as a fuel source, I do have empathy for the coal miners who are losing their jobs.

Coal miners got a lot of attention during the last presidential election. One big promise was the increase in coal jobs. The sad truth for coal miners is that their jobs are not coming back, despite what some would have you believe.

So what’s going on with coal? The industry as a whole is in decline. Why? Renewable energy is on the rise, but it’s not the main driver for the decline fo coal. It’s natural gas exploration that is hurting the coal industry. Many tout natural gas as the stepping stone to cleaner energy and while I do think it is a step in the right direction, I’d much rather see the growth of renewable energy. And to be fair, natural gas has its issues too, fracking anyone? I recommend watching the documentary “Gasland” as it really delves into the issues people have had with fracking, specifically their water supply being contaminated.

At any rate, natural gas is cheaper to refine and sell versus coal. There’s also government incentives for natural gas, making it seem like a natural replacement for coal. It’s less dangerous and easier to extract from the ground. Pipelines can move natural gas from the well to a refinery and then transferred to transport trucks. Even the auto industry has spent a decade or so developing cars that run on natural gas.

Coal is dirty while natural gas is cleaner (emphasis on cleaner). Even technologies that try to make coal better for the environment, affectionately referred to as “clean coal,” the truth is the process doesn’t make the pollution byproduct of coal suddenly disappear. They still have to do something with that stuff, which usually means sticking it in the ground. That’s really just a temporary solution. Also, “clean coal” processes do nothing to make it safer to extract coal nor does it make it more efficient to process.

The cost effectiveness of natural gas makes coal less attractive in the free market. Natural gas is better than coal in some ways, but it’s not perfect. I’ve already covered briefly the problems with natural gas and I’m not advocating it. I’m just making the case why coal is being replaced. To be fair, we’ve been using coal for a very long time.

There’s nothing wrong with replacing coal with something better. Old technology becomes obsolete at some point. The same could be said about energy sources. After all, electricity replaced the candle for every day use. Even so, I understand the fear of losing coal jobs. It’s been a part of American life for a long time and no one likes losing their job.

To be blunt,  coal jobs aren’t coming back, period. And for some people, that really sucks. Especially when that means losing your job. So let’s have some compassion for the men and women who work in the coal industry. Promising to bring coal jobs back is disingenuous, instead, we should work on helping coal miners transition to a new industry, or get new jobs.

 

Only You Can Save Earth, From Stuff

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This Earth Day, we have a lot to worry about. With the country still gripped with a dependence on fossil fuels, the EPA being head by someone who is a climate-denier, and problems with lead in water in several towns throughout the nation (Flint’s doing better, but still has “acceptable” levels of lead in the water).

Use Good Grammar Doggone It!

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from: https://www.reference.com/business-fi...

I think if you ask most students what they look forward to the most come this time of year, they aren’t going to say writing term papers! Those long paged, academically formatted projects, can be a pain in the butt. It certainly doesn’t help when students hate to write. It’s a skill that’s pretty important for a lot of jobs, especially in advertising and marketing, for example.

I thought about this recently while working in my grammar class online from edx.com. I hadn’t thought about it before, but as mentioned by Geoffrey Pullum from the University of Edinburgh, the internet has changed the interest in writing. With blogs becoming popular, almost everyone wants to write about their lives or some other topic. Even twitter requires some skill at 150 characters, unless you don’t mind looking like a fool! Sadly, there are many examples of poor spelling and grammar online.

For me, I think spelling isn’t a big problem, but I do fall victim to grammatical errors. Most commonly and sometimes I use the wrong word. Like I can occasionally mess up with “there, their, they’re,” or similar sets of words. Another thing I do which seems odd is typing “form” when I want to use the word “from.” That’s freaking annoying! I can’t count the times I have had to go back and type the right word.

While spelling mistakes are fairly easy to fix thanks to spellcheck, grammatical errors are not as easy. As effective Microsoft Word’s grammar-checker can be, sometimes it points out a false error. And it doesn’t take into account dialogue. It’s perfectly fine to use poor grammar for a character that does not speak good.

Pokemon a Go-Go

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OMG Pokemon are real! Yo, check out this photo! It’s Proof! So many exclamation points! Okay, so no this isn’t another one of my April Fools posts. This years isn’t as fun as my previous ones. My favorite is probably the What’s Up Scott? post. I also really enjoyed this one: I’m All In with Chris Hayes, in which I claimed to be future guest on “All In with Chris Hayes.” I’m actually a fan of Hayes, since his first show on MSNBC “Up with Chris Hayes,” which was a weekend two-hour show. And who could forget my post that was all about me: The Greatest Story Ever Told? Well, not everyone is excited about April Fools day, so why not have a more serious post? A Pokemon post.

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I was a fan of Pokemon from the beginning, when the first games came out for Gameboy. Really addicting gameplay. I recently finished Pokemon Yellow on the 3DS virtual console, oh the memories. There were 150 pokemon back then, though Mew was one of those hard to find pokemon bonus pokemon. You had to go to a special event to get one. I checked my old Pokemon Blue and Yellow games from back then and sure enough I have all 150 official pokemon on both games. My brother had Pokemon Red, so I didn’t have to worry about collecting all of them. It would be sweet if I could transfer those pokemon into the Pokemon bank, but alas I can’t. At least the guys I got for the virtual console version can be transferred to the new Pokemon games. I started playing Pokemon Alpha Sapphire and I really miss having Pikachu following me around. Just imagine what it would be like if you could have one of those yellow guys following you around!

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Pokemon Go is a different type of pokemon game, which is kind of like what Safari Zone was in the original Pokemon games. In Go, you simply catch pokemon in the wild with pokeballs and maybe use some berries if you want an easier time catching them. Pokemon Go doesn’t require you to battle wild Pokemon to catch them, as is the traditional method for the regular games. However, you can battle in gyms. In Go, the fights happen in real-time, as opposed to menu-battle in the traditional games. There’s also a limit to moves, namely just two moves in Pokemon Go where there are 4 in the regular games.

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The best thing about Pokemon Go is that it motivates me to go walking for a half hour at least, every day. I get to catch some pokemon, hit a few pokestops to restock on items, and work on my streaks for that sweet bonus xp at the end of the week. Today I snapped quite a bit of photos, the ones included in this post, so I’ll leave you with one more. A happy bulbasaur.

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Nintendo Possibly Adding Update to Old Wii U

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Image from:

http://www.polygon.com/2017/1/13/14269470/nintendo-switch-size-comparison

I’m not a freelance writer anymore, but while I was working for that tech blog last year I managed to make some really interesting contacts in the tech industry. Well, one of those contacts just let me in on a tasty little secret! I’ll let you in on it in a second.

The Nintendo Switch is looking to be Nintendo’s most successful video game console to date. It’s a 2-in-1 system allowing users to play console-quality games on a mobile system. Sony tried to do this with the PS Vita and PS4, to some varying success. However, the Nintendo Switch does not require the purchase of an extra console.

Even thought the Switch has only been out for about a month, Nintendo is allegedly coming up with something new for Wii U owners. usually a video game console lasts from about 5-8 years, but as technology improves, the lifespan of video game consoles is shrinking. Just look at how quickly PCs become obsolete.

According to one of my sources, Nintendo is working on a new upgrade for Wii U fans. supposedly, this new upgrade will allow the Wii U controller to be completely portable. Users will now be able to carry that big bulky controller around with them. No longer will the Wii U controller be chained to the console.

Sure the Wii U controller is not as portable as the Switch nor is it as light. However, just imagine all of the games you can play on Wii U where ever you want. Laugh at all those people who paid $500 plus for that hard to find Switch.

It may seem like a crazy idea, and Nintendo sure has had their share of crazy ideas, but it could turn out to be a great move by the video game company. The Nintendo Switch may continue to be in short supply for the rest of the year. With the Wii U upgrade, possibly coming out soon, you wont have to wait for the Switch to be in stock.

I think this new upgrade sounds awesome. I’m still not clear on the details, though. Is it a software upgrade? Do you have to buy some new kind of hardware to make it work? Better than Switch? Why not just come out with a Nintendo Switch U? More questions? What? Hopefully, we will find out soon. Possibly more information to follow in the coming weeks…

 

The Truth Is Still Out There

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I started watching The X-files during the season 2. I was able to see most of the first season episodes thanks to reruns at the time, but I’m glad I wasn’t late to the party. When the show starting to come out on DVD, I jumped at the chance to own each season. Now I own the blu-ray set, all 9 seasons, and there’s a couple of place holders for new seasons.

Science fiction is a hit-or-miss genre. There’s a lot of terrible content out there. However, these days the genre is well represented. That wasn’t really the case back in the 90s. That changed with The X-Files, a realistic show about the paranormal and supernatural. The show made me appreciate sci-fi and helped make it the genre I prefer for my writing projects.

Why was the show so successful? Probably thanks to the main cast, the writers, but also because the show kept you guessing. Chris Carter, the creator, once said that you never know who might be killed off next. He also took care to keep episodes spooky, by making sure the audience had to use their imagination for some of the monsters and aliens. While later on this was somewhat abandoned thanks to better special effects, the early shows showed you just enough to get you thinking. Sometimes it’s what you don’t see that’s the most scary.

A few months ago I started watching the series from the beginning. It was the first time watching on blu-ray, and I enjoyed every moment of it. Each episode was originally filmed in widescreen format, so no troublesome black bars. The quality of the picture was great, though still not true HD. The collection had all of the previous special features of the DVD box sets, plus a few new things.

This latest run through has reminded me of everything I liked about the show. I also feel like I understand the mythology better.I don’t think there is any bad episode, even after 9 years. My favorite seasons is probably the early ones., 1-4, but I enjoyed the later ones as well. (As a side note, I also got a copy of The Lone Gunmen season, which clears up a few things too). I’m sure some fans may feel different, but I can’t think of a bad episode. I did like some more than others, and some might not have been as enjoyable. However, I never felt like I wasted time watching one. I looked forward to each episode and some still scared me even after so much time has passed. At times the show felt fresh and new.

For The X-Files event, I’m glad I watched the original series again. While not necessary, I think having the older episodes in recent memory has brought more satisfaction to watching the new episodes. The 6-episode event starts off with a mythology episode, with a comedy episode in the middle. The short series very much encompasses what a normal season was like. There was the main plot line running through the show, but also non-mythology stories one might call the monster-of-the-week.

I feel this was a good decision on Carter’s part, it kept the show fresh and interesting. Had the show simply focused on the mythology episodes, the event episodes wouldn’t have felt the same as the original series. Carter often tried to give fans a break between the mythology shows or if one episode was particularly emotionally heavy.

After watching the event for a second time, I think my favorite episode was “Babylon.” I especially loved the end with Mulder and Scully, having a nice moment. And we got to see The Lone Gunman again. I also really liked the episode about the were-monster played by Rhys Darby. Joel McHale plays an important role in the first and last episodes of the event. I do like both actors for different reasons. McHale does a fine job playing a right-wing nut job conspiracy theorist. Darby is just amazing.

There’s hope that The X-Files will continue on, with either a movie or new episodes, however brief they may seem. The cliff-hanger ending at least allows the possibility. Clearly the show has past the time when it was pulling 24 episodes a season, but Fox did allow The X-Files to keep it’s time length at about 44 minutes per show. And one final fun thing, the original intro was used, a little nostalgia.

The X-Files made my love of sci-fi. The show inspired me to focus on sci-fi for my writing projects. Even though the show may appear a bit dated, were’re all getting older you know, I think the new event fits well with the original series and doesn’t’ feel like a rehash of the original series. It’s great to see the show make a comeback, even if it ends up being short-lived. At the very least we know there is an appetite for old and new fans alike to watch Mulder and Scully at it again. I guess it’s true, the truth is out there…

 

Trying Something New

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Last month I became Lyft driver. It’s a job that promises to pay better than other ride-sharing services. Ride-sharing provides a unique way to make money, but it depends on the rides you are able to find and how far you have to drive to find them. While I do think Lyft is a good service, I decided that it’s not really worth it for me. Driving an electric car for something like this is best in a major city. And really, I don’t like driving, haha.

I’ve been researching other potential jobs for the last month or so.  I’ve talked about getting a job before on my blog, but it’s difficult for me to find something that is a good fit. I am focusing on working towards getting a job as an or writer in some capacity. That is why I’m working on improving my writing skills.

EDX.com has several online courses and I recently decided to take a class on grammar. My hope is that I can learn how to become a professional editor/writer. Once I finish, I’ll get a certificate of completion, and that’s going on my resume. I plan to take the class over and over again or something like it until I reinforce the knowledge gained. And of course, while I do this, I’ll be working on a couple of stories too.

Twilight of the Elites

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Now that I am focusing on writing again, submitting my short Strange Creatures to a Sci-Fi magazine, I’ve decided that I needed to read books again. I have a few books that I started but never finished. This year, I got back into reading thanks to The Lose Your Belly Diet by Dr. Travis Stork. I continued by finishing Chris Hayes’ book, Twilight of the Elites.

This being Haye’s first book, which I did pre-order, I was looking forward to reading it and I almost finished the book in the month it came out. Distractions prevented me from finishing until a few days ago. I’m happy to say the book is fairly unbiased for the most apart. Yes Hayes’ solution to fixing institutional corruption, inequality, and other issues have a liberal feel in the book, but the decline of American institutions are discussed in a fair and balanced way.

Twilight of the Elites is a fairly unbiased account of why Americans have lost faith in their institutions. The fact is, be it government, corporation, religious institutions, or anything else, there has been a trend of the failure of our most trusted institutions. This has led to a frustration and mistrust of authority.

Hayes carefully examines many of the institutional failures over the past few decades. He explains how elite-think has failed and why major leaders from various sectors of American life have failed to do what the American people want or have failed to do their duty.

Hayes suggests that social distance plays a major reason leaders have acted unethically, committed certain illegal acts , or made catastrophic mistakes. Social distance refers to the disconnect between two groups. For example, the wealthy often do not understand the plight of the poor or middle class, because they don’t interact with those economic groups. The biggest takeaway I had from the book was that many of these so called elites lacked empathy and understanding of the people they were trying to serve. Hayes effectively points lays out how social distance impacts the public. Clearly, we all need to have a better relationship to each other, rich and poor.

Imagine you are a powerful leader. You have many advisors and friends helping you to make the right decisions. Now imagine they are all “yes men” and never question your thinking or your decisions. If everyone is always telling you what you want to hear, you can’t be an effective leader since you may not feel the need to question your own ideas. While it can be frustrating to be challenged often, it has its’ benefits.

I feel Twilight of the Elites It’s an insightful read. You may not agree with how Hayes would solve the problems of our failing or inept institutions, but the reasons Hayes lays out for why they fail make sense. The sad truth is, even with a merit-based society, there is still an unbalance with who reaps the rewards. And even though we imagine the smartest, best candidates should have leadership roles, they often are far removed from the common man and lack the understanding and empathy to serve them.

The book isn’t a major downer, like I have mentioned there are solutions to the problems of institutional corruption and failures. The solutions from Hayes may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but he does have a cautious optimism. Clearly we can find ways to solve the biggest issues facing the United States and even the world, but we have to find a way past the dangerous partisanship effecting our country before we can get back to solving the big problems.