After reading this, I don’t think I’ll ever use the metaphor of something “going over like a lead balloon” again. Jeff’s conclusion: “Thus to change gasses from helium to lead vapor, the diameter of the balloon would only grow by about 3 meters (with the lead vapor at a temperature of 2500K).”
Toasty….
—
[Via the latest Tangled Bank]
Administrivia – "under construction"
You may notice a bunch of new pages appearing in the sidebar. These are still under construction: please ignore them for now….
SGI, chapter 11
Computer maker Silicon Graphics Inc filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after a round of restructuring measures failed, according to court papers filed on Monday.
Of course this comes as no surprise; indeed, my initial reaction was, “FINALLY!! And about time too!” But the stated reason is odd. Among the possible interpretations:
- Restructuring measures were implemented, but failed to yield the intended results.
- Restructuring measures were proposed, but failed to win the support of, e.g., the existing creditors.
- Restructuring was started, but could not be completed – “we tried to lay off the marketing department, but they wouldn’t leave”.
Ah, well. A salutary lesson for those who believe that “if you build it, they will come” despite all evidence to the contrary. And as for Itanium… well, at least Intel won’t have to worry about the special version of Montecito to work with SGI’s NUMA.
(And yes, I realize that “Chapter 11” is not the same as “defunct”. But in this case….)
Rebooting the bike?
Here‘s Alec (not on his blog) discussing a problem with his BMW bike. The thread begins:
I just got ferried home by BMW recovery’s agent in Warwick; long story short I was riding from Preston (Lancs) to Farnborough, making fuel and rest stops as I felt necessary.
I pulled into Sandbach, stopped, fitted-up for rain gear, had a bite to eat and pulled off bound for the motorway. I got about 200 meters down the M6 when I suddenly lost power, freewheeling somewhat. I pulled in the clutch and tried a rolling restart, but the bike wasn’t having it, the rear briefly locked (so grab the clutch in and roll!) and thus I pulled to stop on the shoulder.
I tried rebooting the bike…
The subsequent discussion points the finger at “a dodgy firmware update”. It’s the kind of analysis we’re used to seeing in the wonderful world of PCs, cellphones, and similar gadgets, but I had fondly (naively) hoped that other engineering disciplines had more, well, discipline. A better attitude to quality. How disappointing.
Can the BMW 1200GS display a BSOD?
Letting Go of God
Interesting review of Julia Sweeney’s one-woman show Letting Go of God:
You might think coming out as an atheist would be no big deal in 21st Century America.
Wrong.
When Julia Sweeney performed excerpts of her solo play “Letting Go of God” on the popular public radio show “This American Life,” response from listeners flooded in.
And when she spoke about her metamorphosis from born-and-bred Catholic to nonbeliever in a conference on religious skepticism, Sweeney’s devout parents in Spokane were none too pleased. In fact, they were horrified.
Interesting reading. Though I don’t know what rock the reviewer has been living under if she seriously thought that coming out as an atheist would be “no big deal”. Oh, wait: I do. Seattle. OK, maybe that makes sense…. (Chris? Jon?)
—
[Via Pharyngula]
Odd little rite of transition
I just exercised all of my Sun stock options that were above water. The deadline was next Monday. It’s just a few dollars, but even so….
UPDATE: I was wrong about the deadline. I actually have 90 days after my termination date. (That’s today.) But it’s OK; it’s one less thing to have to remember to do.
English cultural trends
In looking at some of my recent music and DVD acquisitions, I find that I’ve inadvertantly assembled an interesting picture of English popular culture, circa 2006 CE. For example:
- “Vertically Challenged” by Lady Sovereign.
- “Stars of CCTV” by Hard-Fi.
- “Who The F*** Are Arctic Monkeys” and “Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not” by the Arctic Monkeys.
- “Tales From Turnpike House” by Saint Etienne.
- “The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living” by the Streets.
- “Finisterre”, a video documentary about London by Saint Etienne.
I don’t have any profound observations or comments to offer; it just struck me as interesting. (However I will note that I’m extremely impressed by Hard-Fi. The track “Cash Machine” is brilliant, and “Hard To Beat” sounds like an updated number by Prefab Sprout – which is high praise indeed.)
Tragic mathematicians and disembodied souls
This is an interesting week at the MIT Philosophy Department. Yesterday I attended a talk by Rebecca Goldstein, author of several books including the stunning Incompleteness about Kurt Gödel and the mischievous novel of philosophy The Mind-Body Problem. She read a paper entitled “Mathematics and the Character of Tragedy”, which you can find here.
Tomorrow the maverick NYU philosopher Peter Unger will be defending a version of strong Cartesian dualism under the heading “Why We Really May Be Immaterial Souls”, based on Chapter 7 of his book All The Power In The World. I can hardly wait! Mind you, I hope his treatment of the topic will avoid the “aw shucks” style that permeates the Preface to the book.
The mixed blessings of the bungee exec…
From CNET News.com
Sun Microsystems hired a new software chief on Monday, CNET News.com has learned: Rich Green, the latest in a series of former executives the company has lured back
[…]
Green originally started at Sun in 1989 but left in 2004 to become executive vice president of product development at Cassatt, a start-up focusing on managing large groups of servers.
[…]
Green is one of several returning executives who Sun Chairman Scott McNealy likes to highlight as the company tries to argue that it has its dot-com mojo back. “We’ve got them coming back in droves–Andy Bechtolsheim and Mike Lehman and Peter Ulander and Karen Tegan,” McNealy said in an interview last week. “There’s a boomerang hitting my door, it seems, every five e-mails these days.”
Without commenting on the merits of individuals, I have to say that I’ve always been skeptical of this “bungee exec” pattern at Sun. Sometimes they simply return; sometimes Sun buys their start-up. The problem is, they are experienced denizens of the Sun echo-chamber, and history suggests that their sojourns away from Sun don’t change them very much. I would prefer to see Sun recruiting executive talent from companies like Oracle, Microsoft, Apple, or SAP: people who could challenge the conventional wisdom. Because [insert deity here] knows, it needs challenging!
The executive elevator?!?!
A lot of Sun folks have been posting their favourite Scott McNealy stories. Here’s one of mine:
Back in the late 1980s Sun opened a new high-rise headquarters building at 901 San Antonio Road in Palo Alto: PAL1. It was quite a change after the cluster of low-profile MTV (Mountain View) buildings, and Scott took advantage of the view by grabbing an office on the top floor. Soon after it opened, I flew out from Massachusetts for routine meetings in California. [I hate to think how many times I did that during my years at Sun – probably 120-150. No kidding.] Because my body was still on East Coast time, I arrived at PAL1 really early one morning – about 7:15, I think. The car park was almost empty, but as I walked towards the front door I was joined by Scott. We chatted about this and that as we walked to the elevator, and he offered to show me the view from his office.
Just as we got into the elevator, a young man in his mid-20s dashed in. He was wearing a snappy blue suit, a perfectly knotted silk tie, and dazzling cuff-links. (Scott and I were in polo shirts and jeans, of course.) The sharp dresser recognized Scott, and became very confused. “Oh, excuse me, I didn’t realize… Is this the executive elevator?“ Scott and I looked at each other, barely suppressing hysterical laughter. After a moment, Scott managed to say, “You haven’t been at Sun very long, have you?” The red-faced newbie got off on the second floor….
I enjoyed this at the time, but I didn’t think much of it until years later. After all, it was no big deal – I took the casual egalitarianism for granted. And then a few years ago I had occasion to visit HP Laboratories for a standards meeting (W3C or FIPA… I forget which). I arrived a bit early, and sat in the lobby, hoping I wasn’t too conspicuous in my Jini polo shirt. Suddenly the receptionists started twittering anxiously: one surreptitiously fixed her lipstick, while another ran a brush through her hair and straightened her scarf. And then Carly herself swept regally through the door, accompanied by two flunkies. She cast a disapproving glance in my direction, barely acknowledged the receptionists, and strode off into the building.
What a difference.