The Ridgewood Maroon Vol. 4… No. 7
Sunday, January 21, 2024
“Bringing us all to a place we don't want to lose."
Observer: Creators vs. Iterators
Macky’s New York: Steam Them Turbines
William Peay: Tales From The Wood…
RHS Athletic Hall Of Fame: Made For & Inspired By RHS Alumni
Project Arrow: Creating An Online Home For RHS Arrow Yearbooks
Mark Porro: A Cup Of Tea On The Commode
M + A NYC: Mighty Are We As One
RHS Class Of 1977: 40th Reunion
Our Classmates: 50th Reunion RHS 1974
James Stroker: Hope Coach
Jim Schoneman: Rock Hound
Ridgewood Village Manager: Around The Village
Kathy & Ross Petras: You’re Saying It Wrong
Observer
Creators vs. Iterators
We are quietly losing a generation of network engineers who helped build the physical network we call The Internet. These are the people who connected the hardware (routers, switches & firewalls) which created the networks and nominally secured them. Once the devices were connected, then came the configuration of the software which makes the hardware of The Internet function.
This loss of institutional memory of the fundamental under-pinnings of The Internet suggests that a new generation of creators is needed. All ages need apply because the complexity of our latest technological challenge, Artificial Intelligence (AI), can not be ignored. Nor can it effectively be implemented by Iterators looking for signposts as to where they ought to be heading.
We now have a situation in which the sometimes astonishing capabilities of our software has made us all forget its chaotic beginnings. The current collections of glitches, bugs, & hallucinations are being deemed a new set of circumstances. “This time it’s different” is a common phrase, but provides no insights or methodology to correct errors. Many times the next iteration of software will fix problems, though they sometimes simply create new ones.
Creators are different from Iterators. It takes a tremendous amount of thought & energy to imagine and then establish, for instance, a global network of billions of computers and other electronic devices. The act & art of creation takes time and involves convincing people of the worthiness of your idea.
Iterators needs very little convincing. They mostly take what is currently being used and then make changes which hopefully will update the software to run in specific ways and to meet certain criteria. We need iterators because the creators original product is often lacking in useability, meaning an end-user’s feeling of satisfaction is generally left to the iterators who see a product’s faults sometimes more easily than the originators & creators.
So as the creators of the Internet pass away, retire, or are forced out because of their age, the people left are without the experience and wisdom of those who came before them. Compound this absence with the fact Creators can be terrible about documentation and this leaves their successors with an incomprehensible outline to follow. We see this today most notably in the plethora of AI tools being offered each day. How does a decision-maker know who to trust? Who do they turn to for advice, the iterator who is failing to make sense of what is happening, or do they ask experienced creators what they would do?
The current state of confusion indicates the Iterators have been left holding the bag. They would gladly turn to Creators for advice if they hadn’t been marginalized by a generation of breath-takingly disingenuous decision-makers who value cheap labor, long hours, and minimal pay, instead of seeking solutions and asking for help from people who have seen similar tumolt during their careers.
Macky’s New York
Matthew Cortellesi Photography
January 21, 2023 - East Village
Steam Them Turbines
It's 15 degrees out and the steam from the electric plant rolls out like cotton balls in the morning sun.
Shot on 14th street just west of 2nd Avenue looking east towards the East River Generating Station.
Time 745am
William Peay
Tales From The Wood…
RHS Athletic Hall Of Fame
Made For & Inspired By RHS Alumni
Visit the RHS Athletic Hall of Fame
Digital Printing for the RHS Hall of Fame provided by Tim Boucher, RHS 1988
Project Arrow
Creating An Online Home For RHS Arrow Yearbooks
A collaborative effort by Ridgewood High School and the Ridgewood Public Library. The Arrow Yearbooks from 1898 through the 1940s are now online.
Digital archiving by Michael Culver, RHS 2002, and his firm 1Row.com
Mark Porro
A Cup Of Tea On The Commode
Arrived in bookstores everywhere on Mother’s Day, May 14, 2023. Our PR team has been busy. The word is spreading. And Momma is smiling.
M + A NYC
Mighty Are We As One
M + A is a Lifestyle brand known for handcrafted, ethically made, modern home decor and wearable accessories. Artisanal | Small Batch | Designed in NY
Shop home décor and wearable accessories at www.mplusanyc.com
RHS Class Of 1977:
40th Reunion
Our Classmates
RHS Class Of 1974 Reunion
RHS Class of 1974 save the date! We are organizing our 50th Reunion (OMG!) for the weekend of September 20 to 22, 2024. Here is what the Reunion Committee has planned so far:
• Friday, Sept. 20th 6:00 -10:00 p.m….Informal meet-up at MacMurphy’s Irish Pub for those traveling from afar and anybody else who just wants to hang out
• Saturday, Sept. 21st 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m….Tour of Ridgewood High School and lunch in the cafeteria.
• Saturday, Sept. 21st 6:30 – 10:00 p.m….Dinner/dance at the Woman's Club of Ridgewood.
• Sunday, Sept. 22nd 9:30 a.m. -12:30 p.m….Casual send-off breakfast at the Schoolhouse Museum (opposite the cemetery).
If you might conceivably want to attend, please email us at RHS1974Reunion50@gmail.com so we can send you an invitation through RSVPify. No need to commit at this time.
Can you volunteer? We’d love to take advantage of skills that our classmates may have. For example, we still need a professional photographer, a graphic artist, clean-up crew, and people finders. Email us what/how you’d like to contribute at RHS1974Reunion50@gmail.com. This is a grassroots endeavor; our Reunion Committee is composed of 15 RHS ’74 grads. We have not hired AlumniClass or any other third-party to organize our reunion.
James Stroker
Hope Coach
Everything can be taken except one thing !!
Jim Schoneman
Rock Hound
We had a junky old oak frame with a gray mat that wasn’t being used for much, so I painted the frame black and picked out one of my favorite black and white images to put in the frame. Had the 16x20 inch print processed by Nations Photo Lab and just received the finished product today. I’m very happy with the way it all turned out.
This is the M/V Mark W Barker as she passed under the International Bridge in Sault Ste Marie, Michigan on September 11, 2022. She’s carrying a 26,000 ton load of iron ore, and is slowed down to enter the Poe Lock. After locking through she headed for Cleveland to unload. This was only her second time through the locks, with the first time being just a week or so previous when she was headed upbound to load up in Duluth.
Built at Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, and owned and operated by the Interlake Steamship Company, this was her very first load after being christened in Cleveland just 10 days previous, on September 1, 2022. She had been launched earlier that summer.
The Barker is the first Great Lakes freighter to be built on the Great Lakes in 30 years.
Ridgewood Village Manager
Around The Village
Despite frigid temperatures our Parks Division began the process of removing down trees from Ho-Ho-Kus Brook and Saddle River yesterday. Thank you to our Engineering Department for expediting permissions from the NJ DEP. This work effort will take some time, but the upkeep of the banks is underway.
Kathy & Ross Petras
You’re Saying It Wrong
Ross & Kathy’s podcast: You're Saying It Wrong is a podcast that looks at what we get wrong—and what we sometimes get right—when it comes to this English language.
Hadn’t considered creators vs iterators. Interesting and valid concerns. Thanks, Valerie