Travelling, travelling

I have an interesting trip coming up this week. On Friday I’ll fly from Seattle to Toronto, and thence to Dublin. I’ll be working at Amazon.com‘s Dublin facility from the 25th to the 28th, and on the 29th I’ll fly to Edinburgh. I’ll spend July 2nd and 3rd at the Amazon development centre in South Queensferry (where hopefully the weather will be better than my last visit!). Then on the Fourth of July, I’ll drive down from South Queensferry to Oxford, where I’ll spend a few days visiting my mother. ((Hopefully I’ll get to see Alec – and perhaps Jeff.)) And on the following Sunday I’ll brave the horrors of Heathrow and fly back to Seattle.
I’ll be flying on three different airlines:

  • Air Canada for SEA-YYZ-DUB. This will be my first trip on AC, and also the first time in six years since I’ve flown across the Atlantic in something as small as a 767.
  • Aer Lingus for DUB-EDI, I have fond memories of EI. My very first flight was LHR-DUB in an Aer Lingus Viscount, back in 1960. (We were going on holiday to a farm in Donegal, and my mother took it into her head to fly to Dublin and drive up to Fanad.) And then on July 9, 1998 I flew DUB-BOS in an EI A330; for some reason I got upgraded, and it was possibly the best transatlantic flying experience I’ve ever had.
  • British Airways for LHR-SEA. What can I say? When they’re good, they can be great… but in recent years that’s been the exception rather than the rule. At least it’s a direct flight.

Hitting rock bottom on low expectations…

Arianna Huffington previews the Bush administration’s assessment of the “surge”. She quotes Ryan Crocker, U.S. ambassador to Iraq:

“It’s definitely not by any means a universally negative picture.” Translation: Don’t believe the facts, believe us!
You know the soft bigotry of the Bush administration’s low expectations for Iraq has finally hit bottom when “Hey, we’re doing slightly better than universally negative!” has become the rallying cry.

The phenomenon continues

Indianapolis: Another Grand Prix, another pole position, another victory for Hamilton. Simply amazing. And another “I must be dreaming” story: teenager Sebastian Vettel, standing in for Robert Kubica after his crash last week, brings the BMW Sauber home in 8th place and scores a championship point in his first GP. ((However it seems that Kubica will be fit for the French GP in two weeks time, so this may be Vettel’s only appearance in 2007.))
At the end of last season, people were wringing their hands and worrying about what would happen to F1 after Michael Schumacher’s retirement. The answer seems to be, “the best bloody F1 season in ages!!!”

I'm glad I don't have to try to make sense of this

Here’s some local News that Chris may be interested in:

Shortly after noon on Fridays, the Rev. Ann Holmes Redding ties on a black headscarf, preparing to pray with her Muslim group on First Hill.
On Sunday mornings, Redding puts on the white collar of an Episcopal priest.
She does both, she says, because she’s Christian and Muslim.
Redding, who until recently was director of faith formation at St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral, has been a priest for more than 20 years. Now she’s ready to tell people that, for the last 15 months, she’s also been a Muslim — drawn to the faith after an introduction to Islamic prayers left her profoundly moved.

Patio

One of the cool features of my apartment in Seattle is that it has a good sized patio, running the full width of the apartment.
Patio without furniture
With all of the hassle of moving in and dealing with IKEA boxes, I put off my plans for the patio… and when winter arrived I decided to wait for spring. Well, spring is just about to give way to summer, so it’s past time for action. Last time I was back in Brookline, I saw the patio furniture which Merry had got for the condo, and I liked the style. I sat in the chairs, pronounced them comfortable, ((It’s hard to find chairs that provide adequate thigh support; most seem to have really short seats.)) and ordered a set (four chairs, one table) for myself. They finally arrived yesterday.
Patio furniture
Of course the apartment is just across the street from Amazon’s US1 and US2 buildings, so with a bit of luck I can schedule some of my late afternoon meetings on my patio. Accompanied by a nice pinot grigio, perhaps – or a pitcher of sangria…? But first I need a stiff broom and some hot water, to clean up after the seagulls!

The occasional random 10

I really did intend to make this a weekly thing, but… oh, well. Try this little lot for size:

  • “Grown So Ugly” by Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band (from Safe As Milk)
  • “The Price” by DJ Madson (from The God Who Wasn’t There)
  • “Doubleminded” by the Dream Academy (from Remembrance Days)
  • “Dark Angel” by Electronic (from Raise The Pressure)
  • “The Man In You” by Faithless (from To All New Arrivals)
  • “I’m A King Bee” by the Grateful Dead (from Fillmore West 1969)
  • “First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” by Johnny Cash (from American IV: The Man Comes Around)
  • “Relax” by Keoki (from Jealousy)
  • “Shallow (Radio edit)“ by Porcupine Tree (from Shallow – Single)
  • “Happy Jack” by the Who (from Live At Leeds – Deluxe Edition)

Some household names (Captain Beefheart, Grateful Dead, Johnny Cash, the Who), two contemporary stars (Faithless, Porcupine Tree), a couple of fond memories from the 80s (the Dream Academy, Electronic), and two DJs (Keoki, DJ Madson). A nice mix.

Women in Tech

There’s a thought-provoking piece over at DevChix entitled » Let’s All Evolve Past This: The Barriers Women Face in Tech Communities. ((Hat tip to Tim.)) I strongly support these ideas, and I detest the hate-filled speech that passes for “robust open discussion” in many testosterone-fuelled online forums. And for those in denial about the level of misogyny, think again: ((My emphasis.))

When it was illegal for women to publish writing during various times in history throughout various countries, women published their work under male pseudonyms. Today, many tech women still use male pseudonyms when posting to lists or publishing tech articles. The reasons are to have their work read without bias, and to avoid misogynistic ‘hyper-scrutiny’ of their work. I have experimented with this myself using a male pseudonym to post articles, and being told that the articles are informative, useful, great. Six months later I republish the exact same article, using a different title and a female pseudonym, and suddenly the article is horrible, technically incorrect, useless. It’s a fascinating study. I would love to see some prominent male techs publish under female pseudonyms, and watch the responses.

"Papers for Nothing"

Check out the nice parody of Dire Straits: Papers for Nothing:

If you are a physicist, or someone who hangs out with them, like a physics groupy, you might be interested. If so, please keep in mind that it’s meant to amuse. I don’t really feel that string theorists get a free ride. Well, not entirely anyway 🙂