No I don't mean like "windows to the soul" or like a pane of glass. I mean like the Windows that we PC users have all come to love and hate. If you've ever used Windows for any length of time you've experienced the dreaded "blue screen of death".
So, how are humans like Windows you ask? Great question. Be honest now, when you get that blue screen (to MS's credit I've not seen it in a very long time) you immediately crunch down on that power or reset button as fast as you can and never even try to understand what the dying last words of your operating system were. What just happened? Well, my mantra is "that's Windows", but something did actually happen to cause the dreaded blue screen. It's likely that even if you did take the time to read the problem it would not be intelligible. I'm fairly technically competent, build my own PCs, a little programming, network my home etc. and I can't understand what they mean half the time. I've been on the phone with Microsoft support for 2 hours once and they couldn't even figure it out.
Each time a blue screen occurs a log file is created of what is usually referred to as the "stack dump". A stack is basically a set of instructions, commands, calculations or other that are held in memory awaiting to be run. A stack dump then is when this set of instructions gets written to the log. A software engineer can sometimes look at this dump file to determine what caused the error to occur and possibly diagnose the situation.
The problem is that many times these events seem random. Have you ever been in a relationship or conversation with a person and all of a sudden they blow up on you. Well, you've just experienced the human blue screen. Unfortunately, we don't write our stack dumps out to a log file. Many times the error that Windows shows is "A fatal exception has occurred." luckily the errors we as humans make are rarely fatal and there are chances to repair any damage done. Sometimes with Windows the best fix is to just wipe the hard drive clean and start all over with a fresh install of the OS. Obviously, we can't do this as humans. Memories get moved from our RAM (short term memory) to our hard drives (long term) and they are stuck there forever.
So what do we do? Do we have to go around walking on egg shells to avoid those blue screens. Of course not, but it's always nice to remember that we are all humans and like PCs sometimes we can break. Value the relationships we have – defrag the relationship's hard drive once in a while. Uninstall old junk – hurt feelings, even old friends we really don't need; make room for new fresh programs and hardware – friends, activities and hobbies that are not damaging.
There you have it, humans are like Windows. I don't know what I'll do when we all go to Linux or a quasi OS like a browser. We won't have those same problems, unless of course that browser is made by Microsoft.
Do you have any of those human blue screen moments? Share your thoughts and experiences.
15
MAR
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MAR
About the Author:
Mat is a husband and father. He loves outdoor adventures including summiting several 14ers, running the Pikes Peak Ascent 3 times and riding his hard tail down Porcupine Rim at over 40mph. Not being afraid of the kitchen, he swears he's a pretty great cook too. Mat has been successfully involved in leading marketing, strategy and business growth efforts in such diverse environments as start ups to Fortune 50 companies. He has been involved in online and social media since 1998, long before it was even called social media. This is his personal blog and just like life it may include topics that range from Star Trek, Formula 1, movies, sports, business and his family. It will likely not include many references to politics and his relationship with God, both of which he is very passionate about, but you never know something may slip out (just a warning).