Nice, Jerry...
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Still Working After 40 Years...
Nice, Jerry...
New Terrorist Threat...
The Wall Street Journal's commentary pages today prominently feature an article by Andrew Krepinevich, who describes a new and parlous terrorist threat: attacking offshore oil rigs.
Well, maybe. His whole point, really, is that offshore oil rigs are “soft” targets, meaning easy to attack. Sure they are. So are many other targets (dams, water supplies, hydrocarbon storage facilities, mass transit, etc., etc. ad infinitum). I'm not convinced there's anything special about the offshore oil rigs. But I have a real problem with those, like Krepinevich, who think that we should try to defend all these things. To steal someone else's phrasing: we do that, and the terrorists really have won...
Well, maybe. His whole point, really, is that offshore oil rigs are “soft” targets, meaning easy to attack. Sure they are. So are many other targets (dams, water supplies, hydrocarbon storage facilities, mass transit, etc., etc. ad infinitum). I'm not convinced there's anything special about the offshore oil rigs. But I have a real problem with those, like Krepinevich, who think that we should try to defend all these things. To steal someone else's phrasing: we do that, and the terrorists really have won...
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Spam...
Randy Cassingham's excellent spam (email spam, not the meat product) primer. You should read this even if you think you know everything about spam...
Echinopsis huascha...
I have no idea how to pronounce that, but I know it's beautiful. From Botany Photo of the Day, of course. As usual, click to enlarge...
Groan...
Reader Dave H. passes this along, saying
“If you are in a book store and cannot find the book for which you search, then obviously you are in the...”
Agility Cat...
Via my lovely wife (who competes in dog agility), this video of cat agility. As someone who has lived with many cats for many years, I must admit that I would not have thought it possible to train a cat to do this...
X-47B UCAS...
This is the U.S. Navy's next-generation UAV, intended for use on carriers. It's highly stealthy, has quite a large operating radius, and can carry both weapons and sensors. A task force equipped with a few of these could monitor and control a very large area at sea, and could also project force effectively on land when the task force was 500 miles or more offshore...
Monday, October 31, 2011
Sign Outside a Business in Florida...
But...
Your reaction might be much different when you realize that the business in question was a funeral home.
Via reader Jim M...
Are You a Democrat, a Republican, or a Southerner?
By this test, I'm somewhere between a Republican and a Southerner. By most other tests, I'm a long way from either :-). Via reader Jim M.:
You're walking down a deserted street with your wife and two small children. Suddenly, a Terrorist with a huge knife comes around the corner, locks eyes with you, screams obscenities, raises the knife, and charges straight at you...You are carrying a Kimber 1911 cal. 45 ACP with a 7 bullet magazine, and you are an expert shot. You have mere seconds before he reaches you and your family. What do you do?Democrat's Answer:
- Well, that's not enough information to answer the question!
- What is a Kimber 1911 cal. 45 ACP?
- Does the man look poor or oppressed?
- Is he really a terrorist? Am I guilty of profiling?
- Have I ever done anything to him that would inspire him to attack?
- Could we run away?
- What does my wife think?
- What about the kids?
- Were the bullets made by unionized labor being paid a living wage?
- Could I possibly swing the gun like a club and knock the knife out of his hand?
- What does the law say about this situation?
- Does the pistol have appropriate safety built into it?
- Why am I carrying a loaded gun anyway, and what kind of message does this send to society and to my children?
- Is it possible he'd be happy with just killing me?
- Does he definitely want to kill me, or would he be content just to wound me?
- If I were to grab his knees and hold on, could my family get away while he was stabbing me?
- Should I call 9-1-1?
- Why is this street so deserted?
- We need to raise taxes, have paint & weed day.
- Can we make this a happier, healthier street that would discourage such behavior.
- I need to debate this with some friends for a few days and try to come to a consensus.
- This is all so confusing!
Republican's Answer:
- BANG!
Southerner's Answer:
- BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
- Click..... (Sounds of reloading)
- BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
- Click
- Daughter: 'Nice grouping, Daddy! Were those the Winchester Silver Tips or Hollow Points?!
- Son: 'Can I shoot the next one?!'
- Wife: 'You ain't taking that to the Taxidermist!
Motivation...
Via my colleague Aleck L.:
The video is new to me, though the studies it's reporting on are not. One of the big mysteries of managing engineers (or other knowledge workers, I'm sure) is how to motivate them to do what you want them to do.
Much of what this video articulates matches my own experiences – but there are motivations controllable by managements (some of them involving money) that my experience tells me actually do work. All of these involve two elements not explored by these studies: recognition (that is, letting peers – inside or outside the company – know what good thing you've accomplished) and spot cash (that is, cash bonuses awarded not according to some rules or formulae, but rather at the moment some good behavior needs to be rewarded). I've also seen the power of negative motivation. I once used a stuffed monkey with a dunce's cap as a motivational tool. Whenver someone did something dumb, they got the monkey – and it sat on their desk until the next person did something dumb. That damned monkey was one of the best tools I ever found for getting engineers to behave the way I wanted them to, and it was negative reinforcement. I'm pretty sure it only worked because the culture we had at that job was right for it, though...
The video is new to me, though the studies it's reporting on are not. One of the big mysteries of managing engineers (or other knowledge workers, I'm sure) is how to motivate them to do what you want them to do.
Much of what this video articulates matches my own experiences – but there are motivations controllable by managements (some of them involving money) that my experience tells me actually do work. All of these involve two elements not explored by these studies: recognition (that is, letting peers – inside or outside the company – know what good thing you've accomplished) and spot cash (that is, cash bonuses awarded not according to some rules or formulae, but rather at the moment some good behavior needs to be rewarded). I've also seen the power of negative motivation. I once used a stuffed monkey with a dunce's cap as a motivational tool. Whenver someone did something dumb, they got the monkey – and it sat on their desk until the next person did something dumb. That damned monkey was one of the best tools I ever found for getting engineers to behave the way I wanted them to, and it was negative reinforcement. I'm pretty sure it only worked because the culture we had at that job was right for it, though...
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Which Talking Head is More Credible - A or B?
This “debate” on (of all places!) Anderson Cooper's show is a nice comparison between two experts: Peter Schiff, accomplished business man on one side, and Cornell West, a leading light of progressive economics. You be the judge:
Four for Four...
Debbie is running Miki in an agility competition today, downtown at the old NTC. She just called me, and you could hear the smile: Miki just finished his fourth run for the weekend (two in jumpers, two in standard). Result: three first place finishes (and one fifth), and he's now in Excellent B in both. Bonus: he earned his first 19 Mach points.
Woot woot!!!
One other interesting note. Yesterday she took Miki down by himself, and noted that he seemed a bit stressed by the end of the day. Today she took Race (who wasn't entered) down with him, to see if having his buddy along would make a difference. Debbie reports that Miki was distinctly less stressed. Having his friend along made it all easier...
Woot woot!!!
One other interesting note. Yesterday she took Miki down by himself, and noted that he seemed a bit stressed by the end of the day. Today she took Race (who wasn't entered) down with him, to see if having his buddy along would make a difference. Debbie reports that Miki was distinctly less stressed. Having his friend along made it all easier...
How to Speak Liberal...
From John Hawkins, the coffee-spurter of the day. Here are a few choice examples, but do go read the whole thing!
Compassion: Feeling good about yourself for wanting to give away money you didn’t earn to people you hope will vote for your side.Greed: Wanting to keep money you’ve earned instead of having it spent on Bridges to Nowhere and government loans to people who’ve contributed to Obama’s campaign.Guns: Vicious weapons that force people to kill each other.Minorities: People who are too dumb and incompetent to make it without liberal help.Our opponents refuse to compromise on this issue: The Republicans refuse to do everything we want.Racism: A word you cry when you’re losing an argument with a conservative.Taxes: A limitless supply of free money to be given away to liberal special interests in return for votes.Tolerance: Something that justifies going on hate-filled rants against people who don’t share your view of the world.Unfair attack: They quoted me.
Seaside Limestone...
The limestone against the quiet sea instantly recalls many such scenes I saw while exploring the islands of Estonia (primarily Saaremaa and Hiiumaa, shown in Google Maps below). It's been over five years now since my last visit to Estonia. I hope to return one of these fine days, and bring Debbie (who's never been there) with me...
View Larger Map
Expectation and Objectivity...
A short article that does a fine job of presenting the slightly subtle ways that our expectations can completely overwhelm our objectivity. One of my favorite examples of this phenomenon is used in the article: how skilled wine tasters can be (and usually are!) led astray by their expectations being driven by a host of factors that have nothing whatever to do with the wine...
Saturday, October 29, 2011
A Couple of Funnies...
At least for the geeks and math buffs amongst you.
The first is courtesy of my colleague Aleck L.:
And the next I found somewhere in the vast confines of the Inter-Tubes:
The first is courtesy of my colleague Aleck L.:
And the next I found somewhere in the vast confines of the Inter-Tubes:
USA, Inc.
Mary Meeker has an excellent, objective look at the U.S. budget issues – and she's produced a video overview of that look that's understandable by anyone. Both highly recommended. The full report is chock full of illuminating data...
USA Inc. - A Basic Summary of America's Financial Statements
Friday, October 28, 2011
Race's Little Relatives...
Double J Border Collies, the breeder from whom we got Race has a couple videos posted of her most recent batch of (adorable and awesomely cute) puppies:
These People Vote...
Peter Schiff takes on the Occupy Wall Street folks. My overwhelming reaction is sadness at the profound ignorance on display here – and its implications for the future of our country...
Via reader Doug S.:
Via reader Doug S.:
The Divider vs. the Thinker...
Peggy Noonan has another great column up, this one focused on the differences between Obama and Paul Ryan (the thinker, if it wasn't obvious). The conclusion:
Go read the whole thing...But Republicans, in their desire to defend free economic activity, shouldn't be snookered by unthinking fealty to big business. They should never defend—they should actively oppose—the kind of economic activity that has contributed so heavily to the crisis. Here Mr. Ryan slammed "corporate welfare and crony capitalism."
"Why have we extended an endless supply of taxpayer credit to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, instead of demanding that their government guarantee be wound down and their taxpayer subsidies ended?" Why are tax dollars being wasted on bankrupt, politically connected solar energy firms like Solyndra? "Why is Washington wasting your money on entrenched agribusiness?"
Rather than raise taxes on individuals, we should "lower the amount of government spending the wealthy now receive." The "true sources of inequity in this country," he continued, are policies "that enriches the powerful, and empty promises that betray the powerless." The real class warfare that threatens us is "a class of bureaucrats and connected crony capitalists trying to rise above the rest of us, call the shots, rig the rules, and preserve their place atop society."
If more Republicans thought—and spoke—like this, the party would flourish. People would be less fearful for the future. And Mr. Obama wouldn't be seeing his numbers go up.
Starry Morning...
I got up a little early this morning, around 2. Out with the dogs before 2:30, out into a gorgeous dark night sky. My old friend Orion was high and clear in the east, the Pleiades almost straight overhead, and a very bright Jupiter a bit to the southwest of it. So many stars were visible that some constellations were hard to pick out of the clutter. Just beautiful...
The dogs, of course, completely ignored all the beauty. Racer was all about the pine cones, as usual. The three brown dogs got all focused on one square inch of dirt, down near our gate. I let them stay as long as they wanted to, and for about two minutes they were continuously deeply inhaling whatever scent it was that was fascinating them. Their tails were going a mile a minute, and their body language said “We're delighted with something!” Sure wish they could tell me what it was...
On the walk back up our driveway and back into the house, I got to noticing the artificial lights around our property. There are quite a few of them, more than I'd have expected. Before leaving the house, I turned off all the interior lights – at least, I turned off the things we normally think of as lights. But outside I saw our solar-powered gazebo lights (white LEDs that are quite bright) and a teensy little orange LED high on a mast anchored to the west end of our house. This was a power light on the radio tranceiver that connects our little place to the Internet, via a repeater on the hill high above me. Then through our home's windows, I could see a myriad of little lights, every one of them an LED. There were chargers, switch illuminators, front panels of audio/video gear, our wine cork remover, and on and on. I counted 25 such lights before I gave it up.
What do you suppose someone from, say, the 1700s would have made of all these lights?
The dogs, of course, completely ignored all the beauty. Racer was all about the pine cones, as usual. The three brown dogs got all focused on one square inch of dirt, down near our gate. I let them stay as long as they wanted to, and for about two minutes they were continuously deeply inhaling whatever scent it was that was fascinating them. Their tails were going a mile a minute, and their body language said “We're delighted with something!” Sure wish they could tell me what it was...
On the walk back up our driveway and back into the house, I got to noticing the artificial lights around our property. There are quite a few of them, more than I'd have expected. Before leaving the house, I turned off all the interior lights – at least, I turned off the things we normally think of as lights. But outside I saw our solar-powered gazebo lights (white LEDs that are quite bright) and a teensy little orange LED high on a mast anchored to the west end of our house. This was a power light on the radio tranceiver that connects our little place to the Internet, via a repeater on the hill high above me. Then through our home's windows, I could see a myriad of little lights, every one of them an LED. There were chargers, switch illuminators, front panels of audio/video gear, our wine cork remover, and on and on. I counted 25 such lights before I gave it up.
What do you suppose someone from, say, the 1700s would have made of all these lights?
Disturbing, Not Particularly Surprising...
James O'Keefe did it again, catching another set of liberals in the act of being arrogant snobs who are absolutely positive they know better than the rest of us. They are the elites, after all. On the video below, they actually call themselves that.
What is most disturbing to me in this video is the confirmation of what I have long believed to be true: that the liberal media (in this case, the New York Times) has a deliberate agenda of promoting progressive/liberal causes and politicians. Insiders in this video, unaware that they are being recorded, are quite frank and open about exactly such an active and deliberate agenda. It's clear that they see themselves as having a duty to pull the wool over the eyes of all us mouth-breathers...
See for yourself – and remember when you vote a year from now...
What is most disturbing to me in this video is the confirmation of what I have long believed to be true: that the liberal media (in this case, the New York Times) has a deliberate agenda of promoting progressive/liberal causes and politicians. Insiders in this video, unaware that they are being recorded, are quite frank and open about exactly such an active and deliberate agenda. It's clear that they see themselves as having a duty to pull the wool over the eyes of all us mouth-breathers...
See for yourself – and remember when you vote a year from now...
Thursday, October 27, 2011
China...
Via my colleague Aleck L., a ten minute video about China. It's full of interesting facts about modern China, some of which were new to me...
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Yikes!
Via reader Jim M.:
Taken in Alaska. That whale is a krill feeder, not a killer whale, but still...
Taken in Alaska. That whale is a krill feeder, not a killer whale, but still...
Strangeness on Mercury...
Four Moons...
User Interfaces...
The battle between Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) and Command Line Interfaces (CLIs) rages on. Usually these verbal battles are more like a religious argument than anything else. Vivek Haldar (a Google developer) tries a different approach, and makes several interesting observations along the way...
Two Things at Once...
Sometimes I just don't know what to say...
This is definitely one of those times...
This is definitely one of those times...
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Oracle, RightNow, and ServiceNow...
Yesterday our industry was abuzz with some interesting news: Oracle (long a cloud/SaaS nay-sayer) purchased RightNow – very much a cloud/SaaS company, and very much in competition with Seibel (owned by Oracle). Naturally, everybody would like to know what this means. The people at my company (ServiceNow) want to know, in particular, what it means for them.
One commentator (Bob Warfield) has an interesting take on his blog. From his post on the subject, this colorful conclusion:
One commentator (Bob Warfield) has an interesting take on his blog. From his post on the subject, this colorful conclusion:
The rest of you SaaS companies? That would be ServiceNow. Party time?For the rest of you SaaS companies, guys, party like it is the late 90′s again. Oracle just put a floor under your valuation. If your growth slows, you can be bought and added to the Red Hoard, or is that the Red Cloud now? Just be alert if there is more than one of you in the space to what it means if one is bought and it isn’t you. I would draw no other conclusions whatsoever. Whatever RightNow has other than revenues and the possibility of a plan to cut unnecessary expense to wildly expand profitability, that’s all that matters. Whatever conspiracy theory you may have about the underlying tech, execs, or whatever–forget it. You’re over thinking it. The Oracle Machine has to be fed on a regular basis to sustain growth. That’s all that’s happening here. It’s not particular about what it eats other than that revenue and cost cutting part. OTOH, if you really don’t want to be bought, you had better be able to keep growing and running fast. Those sounds of flesh being ripped from bones, that crunching of marrow noise, well, that’s what the Machine sounds like when it’s just around the last corner you turned.
Cain Bumper Stickers...
Via my mom. As she says, “Don't care how you are leaning, but these are good!” I have a hard time picking a favorite from this bunch:
It's gonna be an interesting election...
Monday, October 24, 2011
Laguna...
Yesterday Debbie and I took a nice hike to the Laguna Lakes, just west of the Laguna summit. Miki and Race – perfect hiking companions – joined us as well. Here are some photos from along the way. The first one is acorns in a Ponderosa pine; this time of year the acorn woodpeckers have stuffed their “larders” in preparation for the coming winter. Race loves his pine cones! The lakes were full of coots, and we saw a few pairs of mallard ducks...
Cain's Numerology Interest...
Cain seems to have an interest or belief in “special numbers” that verges on flat-out numerology. Assuming all this stuff is true (I haven't tried to verify it), it's very discomfiting to me. It's akin to a belief in magic as opposed to causality.
On the other hand, Cain majored in mathematics and computer science, so maybe this is just reflective of a general interest in math and numbers...
On the other hand, Cain majored in mathematics and computer science, so maybe this is just reflective of a general interest in math and numbers...
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Generation Y...
People born before 1946 are called – The Silent Generation.
People born between 1946 and 1964 are called – The Baby Boomers.
People born between 1965 and 1979 are called – Generation X.
And people born between 1980 and 2010 are called - Generation Y.
Why do we call the last group “Generation Y”?
Y should I get a job?
Y should I leave home and find my own place?
Y should I get a car when I can borrow yours?
Y should I clean my room?
Y should I wash and iron my own clothes?
Y should I buy any food?
But a cartoonist explained it very eloquently at right...
Quote of the Day...
From, of all people, Christine “Mad Dog” O'Donnell:
Sure hope she's right, 'cause the way things are going the Republicans might end up ahead of the game if they fielded a lawn gnome...“Right now a lawn gnome could beat Obama in 2012...”
Mark Steyn on American Education...
Mr. Steyn, opining on one of my favorite topics: the utter disaster that is American public education. An excerpt:
If you have even a passing interest in this topic, you'll want to read the whole thing...Don't worry, it's a book with a happy ending! U.S. government spending is sustainable as long as by 2020 the rest of the planet is willing to sink 19 percent of its GDP into U.S. Treasury debt. And why wouldn't they? After all, if you're a Chinese politburo member or a Saudi prince or a Russian kleptocrat or a Somali pirate, and you switched on CNN International and chanced to catch Joe Biden's Fourth Grade Economics class, why wouldn't you cheerily dump a fifth of your GDP into a business model with such a bright future?Since 1970, public school employment has increased 10 times faster than public school enrollment. In 2008, the United States spent more per student on K-12 education than any other developed nation except Switzerland – and at least the Swiss have something to show for it. In 2008, York City School District spent $12,691 per pupil – or about a third more than the Swiss. Slovakia's total per student cost is less than York City's current per student deficit – and the Slovak kids beat the United States at mathematics, which may explain why their budget arithmetic still has a passing acquaintanceship with reality. As in so many other areas of American life, the problem is not the lack of money but the fact that so much of the money is utterly wasted.But that's no reason not to waste even more! So the President spent last week touring around in his weaponized Canadian bus telling Americans that Republicans were blocking plans to "put teachers back in the classroom." Well, where are they now? Not every schoolmarm is down at the Occupy Wall Street drum circle, is she? No, indeed. And, in that respect, York City is a most instructive example: Five years ago (the most recent breakdown I have), the district had 440 teachers but 295 administrative and support staff. If you're thinking that sounds a little out of whack, that just shows what a dummy you are: For every three teachers we "put back in the classroom," we need to hire two bureaucrats to put back in the bureaucracy to fill in the paperwork to access the federal funds to put teachers back in the classroom. One day it will be three educrats for every two teachers, and the system will operate even more effectively.
Friday, October 21, 2011
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