QuickWhitt7's Site

In Memory of the Pulse 49

This post is dedicated to the 49 victims of the Pulse gay nightclub massacre in Orlando, Florida. These 49 beautiful souls were tragically taken from this world five years ago to the day – and they will never be forgotten:

Stanley Almodovar III, 23
Amanda Alvear, 25
Oscar A. Aracena-Montero, 26
Rodolfo Ayala-Ayala, 33
Alejandro Barrios Martinez, 21
Martin Benitez Torres, 33
Antonio D. Brown, 30
Darryl R. Burt II, 29
Jonathan A. Camuy Vega, 24
Angel L. Candelario-Padro, 28
Simon A. Carrillo Fernandez, 31
Juan Chevez-Martinez, 25
Luis D. Conde, 39
Cory J. Connell, 21
Tevin E. Crosby, 25
Franky J. Dejesus Velazquez, 50
Deonka D. Drayton, 32
Mercedez M. Flores, 26
Peter O. Gonzalez-Cruz, 22
Juan R. Guerrero, 22
Paul T. Henry, 41
Frank Hernandez, 27
Miguel A. Honorato, 30
Javier Jorge-Reyes, 40
Jason B. Josaphat, 19
Eddie J. Justice, 30
Anthony L. Laureano Disla, 25
Christopher A. Leinonen, 32
Brenda L. Marquez McCool, 49
Jean C. Mendez Perez, 35
Akyra Monet Murray, 18
Kimberly Morris, 37
Jean C. Nieves Rodriguez, 27
Luis O. Ocasio-Capo, 20
Geraldo A. Ortiz-Jimenez, 25
Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera, 36
Joel Rayon Paniagua, 32
Enrique L. Rios Jr., 25
Juan P. Rivera Velazquez, 37
Yilmary Rodriguez Solivan, 24
Christopher J. Sanfeliz, 24
Xavier Emmanuel Serrano Rosado, 35
Gilberto Ramon Silva Menendez, 25
Edward Sotomayor Jr., 34
Shane E. Tomlinson, 33
Leroy Valentin Fernandez, 25
Luis S. Vielma, 22
Luis Daniel Wilson-Leon, 37
Jerald A. Wright, 31

I am an ally of the LGBTQIA+ community, and support the idea that every human being – regardless of sexual preference or gender identity – should enjoy equality and nondiscrimination.

And I will never stop supporting the community. I stand with them no matter what.

May each of the 49 victims rest in peace. Let there be peace and love throughout the world.

Valentine's Day 2021 Update

I forgot I still had this blog, so...hello again, I guess.

Happy Valentine's Day as well. :)

Favorite Vaporwave Artists

According to the Vaporwave Wiki, vaporwave is "a music genre that emerged in the early 2010s among Internet communities. It is characterized by a nostalgic fascination with retro cultural aesthetics, video games, technology, and advertising, and often involves the fusion of modern popular music with lounge, smooth jazz, and elevator music." It is a very experimental genre that really has no boundaries.

With the definition out of the way, here are some of my personal vaporwave artists - complete with their Bandcamp pages linked so you can support the artists. Let me know in the comments if you have a favorite vaporwave artist that didn't make my list:

Favorite Synthwave Artists

Synthwave (also known as outrun or retrowave) is a genre that I found in my YouTube recommendations, and it's one of the few recommendations that YouTube gave to me that I actually like.

For those who don't quite understand what synthwave is, it is a sub-genre of electronic music that is heavily inspired by the 1980's music of films and video games. It's called synthwave because of the use of synthesizer instruments.

With that explainer out of the way, here are my favorite synthwave artists (complete with links to their music so that you can support them):

Scandroid - one of three projects of American multi-instrumentalist Klayton, Scandroid's tracks focus on the futuristic, neon-lit city of Neo Tokyo. He takes the normal synthwave sound and transforms it into an awesome futuristic sound that resonates with you. His most famous track is "Neo-Tokyo", and you might like it.
Miami Nights 1984 - classic retrowave is what you will find with Miami Nights 1984, and the sound - in my honest opinion - never fails to fascinate me. It brought me to a time I'll never really know (because I'm a 2000's kid). I would recommend giving their track "Accelerated" a listen cause it's a masterpiece.
LeBrock - his tracks give me a sort of synth-pop vibe, mixing elements of pop music with synthesizers. And it makes for a great combination. Tracks like "Please Don't Cry" and "Juice" are tunes to dance and/or sing to.
PYLOT - He has two EPs: Shadowtask and Solai. But Solai is the one I tend to go back to, primarily because it tells a story. A story that can be read on his website in the form of journal entries that provide backstory and context to his music.

A Rant About Space

Space is so incredibly immense and so infinite that the human psyche fails to comprehend its true size. For as long as we've existed, we've looked to the stars - wondering what other life is out there, wondering to ourselves "what if we could travel past the confines of Earth?" In July 1969, we took the first major steps into space by sending three brave individuals - Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, and Michael Collins - to the Moon and returned them safely back to Earth in the famed Apollo 11 mission.

Now, my generation – consisting of teenagers and young adults – will be the generation that sends humans to Mars within ten to twenty years. This is the side of humanity I would like to see more often: one making progress not only in peace and honor, but in science and technology.

I conclude this blog post with the following questions: Once we start to establish colonies on Mars, where do we go next? What is our next destination? What will the future look like in twenty, thirty, forty, or even fifty years?

I Fear Immortality

Immortality, by definition "to live forever", frightens me for good reasons. I personally consider it a curse to be immortal, and let me elaborate on why.

If tomorrow I suddenly became immortal, I would have to watch my immediate family and friends grow up, live their lives, and die. The same would happen to the children of my friends and family, and their children and their children's children - it's a cyclical process, and a mentally scarring one at that.

To further strengthen my fears I wonder what were to happen to my immortal body when the heat death of the universe takes place. Will I restart life anew? Will I be greeted to an afterlife or complete darkness? Will I simply cease to exist in this plane of existence?

Though it may spark existential crises, it is the unanswered questions - is there an afterlife, are we alone in the universe, are we living in a simulation - that peak my interest. If only they could be answered...

9/11: Never Forget

"Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our tallest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. We will not tire, we will not falter, we will not fail." ~George W. Bush, 43rd President of the United States

The tragedy of the September 11, 2001 attacks is not lost on us - we will never forget the thousands of people who perished during those attacks: from the victims in the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and the airliners to the first responders on the scene saving as many people as they can. And to those first responders, I would like to express much gratitude for your service and sacrifices. It must have been very difficult and psychologically damaging to deal with a tragedy of such grand proportions as this. But your sacrifices and service were not in vain at all.

The Transportation Security Administration was founded two months after the attack and, according to PBS NewsHour, this included "stricter guidelines on passenger and luggage screening" and "an ever-changing array of machinery and procedures were introduced to scan for weapons and destructive items". Also according to PBS NewsHour, airplanes fortified their cockpit doors, and some airliners dropped first-class cabin curtains. Overall, these changes, among others such as the PATRIOT Act helped to improve air transportation and national security.

May the families of the victims be blessed with love and peace in these times of grief and despair. It's hard to lose loved ones, and we grieve over the loss of them - that is normal, and human.

As a nation, we will never forget the tragic events of 9/11. As George W. Bush said, "We will not tire, we will not falter, we will not fail."

Resources

Take a Break from Social Media

We need to take time away from social media, because clearly these sites are detrimental to our health and our online privacy. Sites like Facebook and Twitter and Snapchat are programming our minds to check for notifications, to check for likes or views or retweets or comments SUBCONSCIOUSLY - it's has become a psychological need.

A lot of us have low self-esteem because we tend to isolate ourselves to our cell phones and outcast ourselves from the real world. We don't think highly of ourselves, so we look to social media sites like Snapchat and Twitter and Facebook and Instagram for a sense of validation from others, a sense of validation that we're good people.

Social media is detrimental to our online privacy - every photo you post to Instagram, every post you make on Facebook, everything you Tweet, everything you post on social media makes you vulnerable. You post too much information about your likes, your hobbies, your places of residence - that information can be used in identity theft schemes and your accounts can be hacked into. Hell, you shouldn't give away your mother's maiden name outright - that is most often a security question on account with two-step authentication. Of course it's common sense not to post your physical address, your bank account details, your passwords to websites. But oftentimes we are too willing to reveal more about ourselves, and we inadvertently give away details that could be used against us or used to hack into an account of ours.

So how do we solve this? By taking a damn break from social media. There's books to read, friends and family to hang out with, opportunities to volunteer for a charity or a church - you could do anything in the real world and become a productive member of society.

Social media is turning us into zombies.

A Dying Cosmic Wish - A Short Story

Based off of an r/writingprompts prompt by u/ImtheGirlinthevid

It has been more than two years of constant transmission of data from her spacecraft back to Earth, which was millions upon millions of kilometers away at this point. She knew what she was getting into when she signed up for this. She knew it was a one-way trip to the infinite darkness of space, and she knew she was going to perish from either loss of oxygen or lack of nutrients from the liquified food that she had been provided at the start of her journey - yet Sarah doesn't regret any of it.

Sarah's spacecraft was equipped with a camera and several sensors, the same specifications as the James Webb Space Telescope launched in the days of yore. The spacecraft had constant, yet very delayed communications with the Kennedy Space Center. It would report Sarah's vitals, the oxygen levels inside the craft, the data collected by the camera and its various plethora of different sensors - all on a delay of a few months.

Now at 782 days into the journey, Sarah was beginning to realize that her time was coming. She had less than a day's supply of liquified food, and next to no water. And as the oxygen supply dwindle, the emergency red lights began to flash.

She rose from her cushioned control seat and took a couple steps towards the viewing window into the unknown. She gazed in awe and ecstasy at the view of distant stars, and briefly thought about how much of the universe humanity still had to explore.

Sarah started to choke, suffocate. The dwindling oxygen levels were causing her to become lightheaded and dizzy. She fell to the floor, gagging and gasping for the air that was no longer there. Her vision faded to black, and she was gone; lost to the cosmos.

For her entire life Sarah strived to be an astronaut; she dreamed of worlds not yet discovered, and all she would study in her free time was astronomy and the sub-topics associated with it. She was just about eight years old when her father introduced her to the study of the seemingly infinite universe - now she's perished at thirty-eight years old, doing what she was most fond of and appreciated the most - exploring the vastness of space.

Must-Have Software for Windows 7/8.1/10

A lot of people may need some software tools to help them with productivity, time management, accessibility, and so on. This list is not comprehensive but it is a basic list of software programs that you may need to make your experience on Windows a little bit easier and more efficient. I'm not sponsored by any of these products, by the way.

F.lux – Strain your eyes at night no more, as this free program makes your screen adapt to the time of day and limits the blue light that emanates from your computer screen. This is recommended for Windows 7, as 8.1 and 10 already have a Night Light feature built-in that does the trick.
LibreOffice - a good and working alternative to the Microsoft Office productivity suite, with the same programs.
OneNote - in my opinion, it is a good note-taking tool for school and college. There is an online version and a Windows 10 app.
Malwarebytes - this is a freemium (free but with priced premium features) antivirus program, and one of the best ones out there.
uBlock Origin - available for Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Edge. It is better than AdBlock Plus in that it blocks all of the ads and pop-ups a website has, and doesn't accept payments from advertisers for exceptions unlike ABP.
Google Translate - available for Chrome only. The official Google Translate extension, which can translate text on a webpage via a tooltip when highlighting text.

Let me know in the comments of this blog post if you have any recommendations that should be added to this list.

Thanks for reading! :)

The End of the Universe - A Short Story

Based off of an r/writingprompts prompt by u/WalkerOfTheWastes

"What do you mean?," I nervously asked Arya, the designated assistant that had been implanted into my brain at conception.

"Connor, no need to be afraid," she replied, sensing that I had grown anxious and weary at the mere thought of the universe coming to an end, "Portum has been a dying star for millennia now. Stars don't last forever."

Portum - the only star in the universe as we knew it as every other had either become a black hole or a supernova. The name Portum meant Haven in Latin (I never thought we'd be using a long-dead Earth language trillions of years after the planet itself had perished) because it was humanity's last safe haven. The founders of the Sapiensia colony I had resided on chose that name for that one and only reason. I knew that the end of the universe was near and I was going to be alive for this - after all, I was only 346 Earth years old and humans nowadays could live for upwards of a thousand years. Even with that in mind, however, I still couldn't help but panic constantly. Arya, before I could even exhibit the slightest symptom of a panic attack, administered a slight medication that would calm me enough to act properly without inadvertently causing any damage to my surroundings - I never do well under stress.

I asked my question with a bit of hesitation: "How long do we have?"

Without missing a beat, Arya had pulled up a timer on my retinal display, which usually contained measurements of vitals such as heartbeat and stress levels as well as contact information for people of the Sapiensia colony, all of which I could summon and communicate with through telepathy. The timer had displayed, among other time measurements: 30 Earth seconds.

I had already departed Sapiensia for a short trip to a nearby asteroid to extract materials that now seemed useless in the face of the death of the universe. I was thankful enough to have said my farewells to them, but I didn't realize they would be final.

"Arya, rotate the vessel around so it faces Portum," I commanded. I didn't need to state a reason because Arya could always read my mind for it. And within the blink of an eye, the viewing window in front of me displayed the giant red star as it was slowly shrinking. The star was supermassive, to the point where Sapiensia was not even visible to my eye without activating visual zoom.

Portum was shrinking, and I could feel the vessel I was in shake as a result of the sudden decrease in energy. It was solar-powered - as soon as any vessel like mine ran out of power, it would sputter, deactivate and send a constant stress signal to the nearest colony for about 7 Earth years. My vessel will engage in that process, but there will be no point in sending a stress signal...because we'll be dead by then.

The vessel shook uncontrollably, as if I was going to be sucked out of it or it was going to detonate. I sent my last telepathic message to Arya, with one word followed by instructions to administer a heavy shock to my brain that would kill me.

One word: Godspeed.

And everything went dark.

Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ Event

NOTICE: This is a work-in-progress blog post. I am not an insider; the information I'm providing is from the livestream and subsequent CNET articles. I'm also not affiliated with or sponsored by CNET in any way.

Watch CNET's coverage of the Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ here:

Information

The Samsung Galaxy S9/S9+ reveal took place on February 25, 2018 at 6 PM Central European Time in Barcelona, Spain (12 PM Eastern Time, 9 AM Pacific Time in the U.S.)

The Mobile World Congress 2018 takes place on February 26, 2018.

Specifications

The Galaxy S9 has a 5.8" infinity display, whereas the S9+ has a 6.2" infinity display. It comes in four colors: Midnight Black, Titanium Gray, Coral Blue, and a new Lilac Purple. It has a microSD slot and is water and dust resistant. Horizontal orientation is now supported, and there are speakers on both ends of the devices which include Dolby Atmos cinematic sound. Fast, wireless charging remains a thing with the Samsung devices.

AR Emoji

Augmented Reality Emoji, or AR Emoji, lets you create personalized emojis that look like you. You can personalize their outfits, expressions, and add voice to them. Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp support has been hinted at in the event.

Camera

Intelligent Scan facial recognition has been implemented into the camera. The Fingerprint sensor is now below the camera. The camera itself is dual-aperture - f2.4 and f1.5 to be exact - for different lighting environments. The S9+ has an exclusive Live Focus feature and a dual camera.

Super Slow Motion is new to the Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+. The devices can capture videos at 960 frames per second, it can auto-capture certain moments of the recording, and custom background music can be chosen when editing Super Slow Motion videos. Super Slow Motion videos can be set as the lock screen.

Software

Soon...

Bixby

Bixby can translate text on signs and other objects. Bixby now automatically identifies food and logs nutritional information to the Samsung Health app.

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If there is anything that I missed or any mistakes I made, don't hesitate to comment and point them out.

Net Neutrality

NOTE: This is an opinionated article. Do not treat this as a primary source or reliable news; instead, treat it like a blog post from a concerned individual.

Net neutrality prevents Internet service providers (ISPs) like Comcast and Verizon from blocking, throttling, or charging money for people attempting to access certain sites, apps, and services. ISPs allowed consumers to browse the free and open Internet, regardless of where the content is hosted.

On Thursday, the 14th of December 2017, the FCC in a 3-2 vote killed net neutrality rules put in place in 2015. This is, as put by YouTuber Philip DeFranco, "a dark day for innovation, small businesses, and consumers". The end of net neutrality means ISPs could charge more for access to specific sites and even censor content. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai thought that killing net neutrality would be beneficial for the Internet. The like-to-dislike ratio on Ajit Pai's PSA video released the day before the vote proves that consumers are not at all happy about this.

By supporting the death of net neutrality, Ajit Pai has become one of, if not the most despised persons on the Internet. I've seen several nasty tweets and memes about him from all over Twitter. Pai killed net neutrality despite strong public opposition from millions of people - even tech giants like Google, Facebook, and Microsoft were on the net neutrality bandwagon. He didn't listen to the people (including myself) who opposed his reckless measures - he gave us a metaphorical middle finger.

And there's no sign that it will be brought back to life anytime soon. The FCC Chairman wanted net neutrality dead from day one of him being appointed to the position, and I doubt he'll listen to the voices of countless protestors who support a free and open Internet full of innovation and creativity.

There is no denying that the Internet will experience change of humongous proportions for the worse. And unfortunately, both the FCC and the telecom companies who backed Pai will tell us to either put up or shut up.

To sum up this article, if you're not concerned about net neutrality now, you will be when your Internet and cable bills suddenly rise.

If there are any factual errors in this article, let me know in the comments and I will address them accordingly.

Love Is...

A short poem I created that explains what love is...

To love someone means to live life together,

To love someone means to live life forever,

To love someone means to not cheat on one another,

To love someone means to be loyal to each other,

But loving someone does not mean be abusive,

Loving someone does not mean be accusing,

Loving someone does not mean be a hater,

Loving someone does not mean be a cheater,

But most importantly of all,

Love is love, it doesn't matter if your gay, bi, or straight,

You can say goodbye to those who give you hate,

Love is love, and that's the way it is.

I Love Space!

We are but a tiny speck on the boot print of the universe. If the entire observable universe was the distance between New York City and Los Angeles - a distance of over 2,700 miles (4,345 kilometers) - we have only traversed one centimeter. We are so insignificant in this universe, so unbelievably small. Everybody that has ever lived, everybody we know and love today, every human that has existed since the dawn of civilization…was born on one unimaginably small speck in the universe. There are so many things we don’t understand about space…perhaps we aren’t the only civilization in this universe. Space has opened up a door for so many people - from the scientifically talented researchers to the literarily curious authors. We have a long path ahead in space exploration.

That, my friend, is why my love for space will never cease.

Hurricane Irma UPDATED

I am directly in the path of Hurricane Irma, projected to be a Category 3 to Category 4 when it hits my part of Florida. Thankfully, my family and I are well prepared and ready to ride this storm out. Our house has shutters, a concrete framing, is not in a flood zone, and has enough food and water to last my family of three for a few days.

My thoughts and prayers go out to those affected by both Harvey and Irma. It's going to be one heck of a ride, and there will be damage, power outages, water shortages, and flooding. I just hope and pray that everyone in my area makes it through unharmed regardless.

September 12 Update

My family has survived Hurricane Irma with minimal damage to our house. We had no power for two days (if you live in Florida, then you know that A/C is a must). Heck, some people are still without power as of this update, and most likely will be for days...if not weeks. Thankfully, FPL and Duke Energy are trying to resolve power outages as best as they can, so I thank them immensely for their efforts to get us Floridians back on the grid.

Seeing the damage Irma did to some communities was astonishing. There's a definite terror that went through my mind as I saw roads underwater and roofs torn off structures like orange peels. It was horrifying. Thankfully it didn't cause any major damage, but there were several fatalities in Florida - I heard on the radio that someone died in a freak accident in Tampa involving a chainsaw to the throat! Holy hell! Prayers to that victim's family.

The recovery efforts will definitely continue throughout much of the week, and hopefully a sense of normalcy will return to Florida relatively quickly.

Kennedy Space Center Trip

The Orion spacecraft capsule model.

On 1 September 2017, I took a trip to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex (the only real worthwhile experience living on the Space Coast), where I got to see the Mars Experience Bus (footage of part of the experience below), an exhibit that utilizes the windows of a bus to show Martian imagery with space colonies, and it played out like we were moving but the bus remained stationary through the whole ride.

I also got to see the Journey to Mars exhibit, where I learned about the challenges we are facing when it comes to Martian exploration, such as transportation, communications, survival in the harsh environments of space, et cetera.

Lastly, I got a souvenir from the Space Shop: a Space Shuttle keychain with my first name on it. It's been a tradition of mine to pester my parents for money to get a souvenir every time we visit someplace special, such as when I traveled to Ohio to see family. It's a sort of "proof or it never happened" kind of thing.

I've provided a few photos of my experience from that trip, for those who are curious (I took over 70 photos, which I don't think is nearly enough).

All in all, it's an unforgettable experience that I would really recommend for those traveling to central Florida. If you love space, then the KSC is a must visit.

And now the photos:

The Mercury Mission Control room, as seen in the Heroes and Legends exhibit.

A scaled down model of the Orion rocket.

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