Change has become a tool in the hands of the people.

It's interesting, and somewhat irritating, that every time changes come our way people tend to forget that things haven't been a certain way. Specially in the last hundred years, we have seen changes come with unprecedented speed and scope.

For the looks of it, things will continue to keep constantly changing in the short and medium terms. Only the speed of these changes might change depending on the area we are talking about, but things will be changing we like it or not. We'll have to adapt, and solutions found to the new issues that those changes bring.

At the end of the day, people will have to learn to adapt to change and make the best out of it. For the look of it, the new generations are learning not only to cope with change, but actually be a part of it or be who makes change happen. More and more people are not willing to see change, but to change things by themselves.

Change is becoming a tool, and not a problem. People are learning to see change as something to be desired, specially when people takes control of it with the communication tools we have now at out disposal. Things like smartphones, and the social media they allow us to tap into, means that organizing for change at the glass root level is becoming not only easier, but actually affordable for an even larger portion of society.

The question is how long it'll take us to master this power for change, so to make it more effective to change thing in our favor. I'm still hopeful that is more of a when it'll happen, and not if it'll happen.

From this time forward, is time to take a more active participation on building the future we want.

Ignorance is not bliss, but the tool that keeps us subjugated.

One of the biggest ironies of having the tool that enable people to actually look into things to learn about them, or find all the information you need to understand whatever you want, is that most willingly don't do it. There are people who are even proud of not doing even basic research to have some level of understanding about any of the subjects that affect them.

In some ways, ignorance is now somewhat of an option. With the advent of the Internet, and smartphones that give us access to it from mostly everywhere we are, is hard to make a point that people don't have access to information they need to learn about anything. Not only that, now there are many ways to access courses that allow people to learn almost any skill they choose, or have an interest in.

Not knowing something is not an excuse any more not to go, and learn something about it.

Whats more, now more than ever before we have access to news from many different point of views. Which means that making our minds is far easier than before, and we have better information to question what we are being told. Now we can actually come closer to the source than ever before, while having access to more than one expert to better understand what is going around us.

Not being actively learning, and keeping in touch with what is going around you, is detrimental to your interests and those of your community. It saddens me when I hear people repeat misinformation, and half truths, they hear because they didn't take the time to do even basic research to verify what they heard.

What's worse, is that the expectation of simple solutions to complex problems. It seems that there is a denial that reality is complicated, as such there is no silver bullet to solve the problems we face. Solutions will take time, and effort, in order to work. Most importantly, we'll need to keep learning new skills in order to face the problems that we'll be facing in the future.

Ignorance is not bliss, but the tool of those who want to keep us subjugated to their interests. If we want to be free, we need to arm us with knowledge and the skills needed to build a fairer world.

Socialism, the Internet, smartphones, and free markets.

One of the oddest combinations the Internet, and smartphones, have created is combining socialism and the free markets.

What I mean, is that they have brought together people in order to see socialism as the form of government that brings the most benefits to the majority; and the free market as the economic system to follow that brings prosperity to the majority.

As a democratic socialist, I've always believed that the combination of a socialist form of government, and a free market economy, is the best way to create more fair and inclusive society.

The main reason why the combination of the Internet and smartphones is bringing socialism and the free markets together, is that it not only increases the transparency of both governments and corporations. It also allows people connect self organize, and have more say on how the government works, and to free markets even more by allowing, both the individuals and small producers, by allowing them a more direct access to the markets.

I feel somewhat vindicated that now I've the proof that socialism and the free markets can go together. It has always been a matter of how to bring them together, no if they can go together.

Socialism is a form of government, and the free markets are on the economic side of things. As such, socialism is the way we give the market a framework over which to work in such a way its benefits reach the most people as possible, while the negatives are minimized as much as possible.

The idea that markets will self regulate in a way that benefits the people, has been proven wrong several times. That's why we need a way for the peoples have way to regulate markets, through other means than the markets themselves. So far, governments have been the best way to do so.

Yet, the advent of the Internet, and smartphones, that allow people to connect among themselves and create groups, to have a more direct way to sway not only on governments, but on the markets themselves bypassing the need to use the old gatekeepers.

Now more than ever, the combination of socialism and the free markets, empower the people to have a stronger hold on their destiny.

Smartphones have change more than we realize.

For me, its mind-blowing that having a device on your pocket that allows you not only to connect with others in real time, access wealth of information on any subject, but also create content or contribute any way you in an instant, has become so normal.

Smartphones give us the ability not only of being consumes of knowledge, or content. They also give us the chance to contribute with knowledge to be used by other, or create content in a way that years ago would be unthinkable. In many ways, they also have made harder to control how knowledge spread and how we consume content.

More than ever, this abilities gives people to take ownership of both knowledge and content in more immediate, and powerful way. And even though we are still far from being something that everyone can take advantage of, we are well in the path of it becoming a reality in just a few decades.

Now, the importance of making sure that our children have the tools to process all of this vital not only for them to make sense of it. Also because they need to be able to discern misinformation, lies and the such to be able to give the best of use of the tools smartphones are.

The genie is out of the bottle, so to speak. As such, what we need to do is not to put it back in, but give people the tools to make the best use of what this means. If we do so, all the changes that smartphones have brought will be for the better.

Nostalgia for the past doesn't make our childhood better.

It irks me somewhat when people compare their childhood with the one of the today's children, and proclaim that theirs is far superior just because the children won't be able to experience what they did. They seem to willfully ignore that every generation's childhood is different from generations past and future.

The world each generation experience their childhood in a different context from each other. To compare how we experience our childhood to the one of today's children is not fair, since their world isn't the one we grew up in. We see our childhood with tainted eyes, ones that in some ways make it a bit better than it actually was.

People forget that we have to give them the tools to be able to face a world that'll be different that the world we are now. Trying to give children the same childhood that we had, is not the best idea. We need to let them be children in the context of how the world is now, while giving them the tools to make them able to face the world they'll have as adults.

The thing is, that it'll be different from the world we live now. And trying to keep change, won't stop it from getting to us. And stubbornly holding to the memories from what was, doesn't exonerate us from allowing our children their childhoods in the way that allows them to face the world we are all living in today.

We all had the childhood dictated by the time we lived it in. We have to let each generation live, and make the best, of their childhood. Each generation has to face the problems of their times, at the best of their abilities.

Cinnamon: my desktop of choice.

Though I've come it to like running GNOME on Ubuntu, I found it that after a while GNOME became quite a RAM hog. A few weeks ago, I ran into Ubuntu Cinnamon Remix, which brings my favorite desktop environment, Cinnamon, to Ubuntu as default.

So far, I haven't used more than 4 GB of RAM with the same usage I had on GNOME. And, I've come come to realize how much more of a better fit Cinnamon is for my daily need. And, even though I like Linux Mint, being able to use Cinnamon as default on Ubuntu is something a like a bit more. Mainly because I prefer Ubuntu over Linux Mint, though I admit is mainly because Ubuntu was the first distro I used full time when I made the jump to Linux.

Yet, I don't discard making the jump back to Linux Mint if Ubuntu using Cinnamon doesn't become an official flavor when 2021 come around. In a way, Linux Mint could be considered the official Cinnamon flavor, since its based on Ubuntu, yet it follows the long-term release schedule. What I'd like to see, is a release schedule mirroring the one Ubuntu has, though Linux Mint releases have been solid so far.

True being told, I'll probably go back to Linux Mint. I don't see much chance that Ubuntu welcoming Ubuntu Cinnamon remix an official flavor soon, so I rather support Linux Mint. Though I'd rather stay on Ubuntu, I rather go to a distro that uses my favorite desktop environment that has a better chance to continue support in the future.

Technology needs to be guided to be a force of good.

I find it interesting how some people seem to see technology as either as something that'll save us, or what doom us. It seems that most don't seem to realize that most of the time, technology won't do either on its own.

At the end of the day, technology on itself won't save or destroy humanity. It rather comes down to how we use it to interact with other people, and the world around us. All technological devices are merely tools that help us to complete a task, which on its own is not good or evil.

The user is the one who is good, or bad, not the tool that was used to do the task at hand. The people who use any tool, are the ones who are responsible for the end results. To blame the tool, is to take the responsibility away from the one who used it. By doing so, we are shielding that person from the consequences that should come for the use, or misuse, that person has to face.

If we want to people to use technology in a way that benefits all, or at least doesn't do harm to others, we need to do two things. One, is to teach them to use them effectively. If not, people won't be able to make the best use, and even misuse it without realizing it.

The other thing, is that we need to let people face the consequences of their misuse they make. If they aren't allowed to face any consequence, we won't be able to curb unwanted behavior.

Most importantly for me, we need to come to terms that new technologies mean that we'll have to change how we relate to the world around us from time to time. This change is necessary, specially if it means that we'll improve life for as much as people as possible.

This change needs to be stop seen as something undesirable, but as something to be embraced and actively guided so it gives the best results as possible for as many people as possible.

Technology, and the change it brings, can be positive if we take the time and effort to make it so. It's time to be an active participant, and make it happen.

Linux has become more user friendly for the average person.

I find it somewhat funny that most people still believe that using a Linux distro would be using a command line interface like this:

When most distros would use a graphic user interface like this:

Although the user interface varies from distro to distro, most of the time there is no need to use a command line interface. Most of the daily tasks can be made without the need of entering the terminal emulator, which makes life a lot easier and less daunting for the average user.

In the seven years I've been using Ubuntu, or Linux Mint, the amount of time I've to use the terminal has been dropping significantly. So much so, that it can be more than a month before I make any use of the terminal, and most of the time is to uninstall old kernels to make space for the current one.

As such, it has become more user friendly for the average user. This is specially true for distros like Ubuntu, and Linux Mint, since most, if not all, can be done without the use of the terminal. Meaning that you don´t need to be a geek, or have much technical knowledge, to use or solve most of the daily issues that can come up.

To be honest, now more than ever I´m more comfortable and willing to advise the move to those users that want to move out of Windows, or MacOS, to an OS that they´ll be able to use that just works. Yes, there will be some learning curve, but it won´t be as bad as one might think.

It seems like Linux, with some of its distros, finally has become a solid option for the average user.

I like to be on the move, as such I prefer my computer to come with me.

On daily basis, I use a laptop at home and a desktop at work. As such, I've found that if given the choice I'd rather use a laptop the whole time.

Though desktops will always be more powerful, for my workflow a laptop is just a much better fit. It gives the flexibility of use I like, and especially I don't need to have that much of a powerful CPU, or GPU, for what I do both at work and at home.

The most important thing for me, is that a laptop is a much better fit for my lifestyle. I'm always on the move, not liking to stay at home for long periods of time. So, I like to go to a coffee shop to do some work just so I don't get to restless or simply to change my surrounding a bit.

Not only that, even at the office I'd love to be able to move the computer around. Set it at my lap, or just move next to a window just to change the scenery a bit from time to time.

Most importantly, I like the ability to take my work with me without worrying about having how to access to my files, or the software I use, no matter where I'm at or what time it is. Just be able to pick up work where I left it independently from of where I'm at that particular time.

Laptops give me that ease of use, and a sense of empowerment to do what I need to do wherever and whenever I need to get it done.

It's a balance between form and function, not prioritizing one over the other.

It seems that Apple finally understood that prioritizing function over form isn't always the best idea to create products that just work.

The best products, the ones that just work, and look great, are the ones on which the designers understood how to balance the form and the function to make the product that works great and looks awesome. Putting to much emphasis on either the form, or the function, is the recipe for creating the kind of products that will fail big time.

If you put to much attention to form, you'll get a product that won't work at least at well as people needs it to work. At wort, you'll get something completely unusable, since many of the items that need to be there for the product to work as the user needs it to won't be there.

On the other hand, if you go only by function you'll get products people won't use because they are uncomfortable to use, there is no easy way to figure out how to use it, or simple people won't pick it up simple because they don't like it. In some occasions is a combination of those three things.

This is why striking the right balance of form and functions is something that must be considered a priority when designing any product. People don't buy things based just on form or function, but on how these two are balanced. Though there are exceptions, the vast majority of the thing we use on daily basis strike the right balance of form and function we seek. We use things because they look how we like them to look, and also work in a way that gives us the results we are looking for.

In a way, we get those things that appeal to our sense of taste while they do the things in a way we expect them to work. The products we love, are those that do what they say they will while looking good doing so.

While some people may say they prefer form over function, or the other way around, the truth is that people ends up using what strikes the right balance of the two. It must be said that form is not just making things look pretty, but make them so people use them easily, and comfortably, for the intended purpose of each product.

As with everything else in life, form and function need to live in balance to achieve the best possible product.

Critical thinking is sourly lacking, and its really bad in the worse possible ways.

With so much misinformation, and lies being spread around social media, media in general and the Internet, it has become harder to know what to believe or who to trust. Specially when that misinformation resonates with core beliefs of people unwilling to do some extra research, or just look for more information to collaborate what they came by before making up their mind.

All of these becomes more insidious, when you add into the mix the fact that there are many that aren't capable to question what they come the information they come by. Many just take it on face value, which in some cases can lead to the wrong conclusions about the subject of the news they heard about.

Critical thinking is a skill that needs to be learned, and even easier to take for granted for those who learn to think in such a way. So much so, that it takes many by surprise that many people out there didn't learn to think critically. Which makes it hard to communicate with them, since some don't take kindly when someone not only refuses to take their ideas, but also questions them.

Sadly, the education we receive both at home and school doesn't always gives us the tools to think critically. Kids are thought to memorize information, and not to actually take it to be understood and be processed to come to their own conclusions. They aren't allowed to ask why do things work the way they do, jut to accept that things just work that way.

If we want a stronger society, one that can actually make the best use of democracy, all the people needs to be able to think critically. The root problem isn't that social media can be used for people to exchange ideas, rather that people aren't able to discern misinformation because they don't have the tools to recognize it.

Time has come to make sure that our education systems equips people with the tools that help them to think critically. It isn't just the way to build better a better society, but actually save our democracy.