computers

Yesterday was rough on this Dad’s emotions. One might think that, after seeing four boys taking the same step, watching child number five starting high school might be non-eventful. One would be wrong. The whole event tugged on my heartstrings because not only is this the last child, but it’s also the only girl out of the bunch. We won’t be doing this again. What are firsts for her are lasts for me. She’s growing up, I’m just growing old. She used to reach for my hand. Now she reaches for my arm to help me go down the stairs.

She had a doctor’s appointment first, to check on whether to adjust her ADHD meds. She was thrilled to finally weigh over 100 pounds (just barely). She hasn’t gotten much taller, though, which she found disappointing. Her doctor, who tells us she’s from “a place in the former Soviet Union,” was excited about her starting high school and tried to be encouraging. She’s adjusting Tipper’s meds down a little for the first month to see how things go.

As we drove to the school, my head was flooded with memories. Tipper was two years old when I first met her. She had a huge smile. She was only moderately shy at first and it wasn’t long before she was riding on my shoulders. Before long, I was the one she looked at to put her in her car seat while Kat took care of G. She’d cuddle with me when she wasn’t feeling well and fell asleep on my shoulder more than a few times. Arguments with her mom were common, but she would calmly discuss her issues with me, let me dry her tears, and reach a compromise (if there was one to be had) before going to apologize to Mommy.

Since I started chemo, she’s been the first visitor in my room every morning. She comes in, pets the animals, and we talk about whatever’s coming up for the day. She keeps me updated on whatever anime she’s watching (that I still don’t understand), tells me her ideas for a furry costume of some sort, tells me what’s going on with her boyfriend, Gio, and occasionally even asks questions about what’s going on in the world, though I suspect she does that just to humor me.

Starting high school is a big step for her. For now, she’s interested in a career in Early Childhood Education. I’m earnestly hoping she finds something in high school to channel that love for children in a direction where she’s more respected. She’s had some fantastic teachers over the years and that is the fuel behind her current desires, but I know how many of those teachers have had to leave the profession because they simply can’t afford to continue. I know how all of those teachers have had to fight for basic rights, constantly challenged by both administrators and state legislators who can’t get their heads out of their asses. I’m not thrilled to think of her going through those same challenges.

There’s a building at the school they refer to as “the Bunker.” It’s a former manufacturing building, as is the main building, built out to support the unique needs of engineering, from making and testing robots to all the various forms of woodworking. We walked into the Bunker yesterday and she immediately fell in love with all the different creative resources, the drills, saws, and sufficient space to place things out and work on their designs. She doesn’t yet realize how well her creative tendencies align with engineering skills. I’m hoping she discovers and embraces that potential.

After we finished at the school, we walked across the street to a tiny little taqueria for lunch. She ordered the chicken soup and devoured the homemade whole-wheat chips that came with it. Lunchtime chatter was all over the place, which is normal. After eating, I asked if she wanted to go home, which would have meant catching a bus or going to see Mom. She chose to go see Mom. Kat hadn’t been feeling well that morning, so we were both a little concerned.

As we started walking, I told her to start looking for College Ave. She immediately started making jokes. “How far is it to College? Oh, that’s years away.” She wasn’t particularly enjoying the walk, though, and was happy when Kat had a break in her schedule and came to pick us up. She told her mom all about the Bunker and some of the ideas it fueled. She went on about the soup, which she declared to be the best ever. She also put out her hand and made me pinky promise that we’d both take naps when we got home.

That was an easy promise to keep. I didn’t wake up until after 5:00 and realized that I hadn’t thawed anything for dinner. I tried ordering raw food that I could cook, but it didn’t get here until almost 8:00. By that time, everyone had utilized leftovers and fixed something for themselves. Tipper went through the fridge, cleaned it up, and did the dishes. G made brief appearances but was largely consumed with the game he was playing.

All through the day, we see glimpses of the young woman Tipper is becoming. She has more potential than she realizes. Her compassion is overwhelming. Her critical thinking skills are developing quickly. She’s going to be a force to be reckoned with. I’m letting her go, watching her grow, but I’ll always be her Dad. There are plenty of big steps in her future. This won’t be the last time that I cry.

Then, we wake up this morning to see what happens when the entire fucking world depends on a monopoly. Microsoft services are down and the whole world has come to a grinding halt. Medical services are being delayed. Financial services are at risk. Some broadcasters are off the air completely. The world is discovering in the most painful way how reliant they are on one company and how dangerous that is. Not that people haven’t been trying to tell them that for years. There have been plenty of warnings along the way. Yet, here we are with so many services shut down around the world that it is dangerous in many places for one to even leave the house. As of 7:15 AM EDT, cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike says that they’ve found the problem, a single update to the Windows system and that a fix is being deployed. The cost in terms of loss is going to be in the billions of dollars.

Will anyone learn their lesson from this? Not likely. While Apple and Linux were not affected, converting to those systems is expensive and could conceivably take years as many Windows 365 apps and services are not duplicated on any other platform. What this outage proves is how vulnerable the world’s digital systems are. This wasn’t a cyberattack. This was simply a global software update. ONE SMALL PIECE OF CODE brought the entire world to a standstill. Moreover, this is in a realm that legislation and regulation, even in countries where that control is severe, cannot adequately cover. These changes have to be done on a corporate level, involve billions of dollars in revenue, and could have trickle-down consequences not yet imagined.

What a way to start the day, huh? And if you live in Australia, the entire day has been a mess by now. This is the topic everyone will be talking about today. If only that talk would result in immediate action that matters. It won’t. That’s not the way today’s world works.

I’m not sure anything else matters at the moment. RNC speech? What RNC speech? Election? What election? When you can’t make a purchase, your plane can’t leave, or the traffic lights are all stuck on red, all the political bullshit ceases to matter. We see how little control the government actually has over the real world. We see how inept corporations are at cooperating. We realize how dependent our lives are on things that we do not and cannot control.

In a rational world, an event like this forces severe change.

We don’t live in a rational world.

Without even looking, I know there are people making the excuse, “I guess God didn’t want [insert random event] to happen today.” Bullshit. God doesn’t care if you miss your flight or if your credit card gets declined. God is not a micromanager. This is the fault of an inadequately tested line of code and years of monopoly-driven bad decisions. God isn’t going to fix that. Politics aren’t going to fix that. Reason and critical thinking skills, which are globally in short supply, are the only solution.

So yeah, we’re doomed. This will happen again and next time it probably won’t be an accident. The weakness has been exposed and corporations can’t move quickly enough to prevent exploitation.

Good thing it’s Friday, isn’t it?