Geoff Arnold's Blog – Page 35 – Blogging on and off since 2003

CloudSlamming

One of the unexpected benefits of being between gigs is that I’m going to be able to attend all of Cloud Slam 09:

A number of friends – Werner, Rob, and Hal, for example – are going to be speaking, and it looks like an interesting agenda. And in these cost-conscious times, a virtual conference is the way to go. Nevertheless, five days in front of my computer from 8am to 7pm (and that’s EDT, or GMT-4, so it’ll be 5am onwards here in Seattle); that feels a lot like work! I must be sure to stock up on my personal fuel.

Twitter Updates for 2009-04-04

3:50am is a truly uncivilized time. Checked out of hotel, waiting for shuttle to SFO to get my 6:15 flight home to Seattle. Yawn…. #
@micknugent Ann Holmes Redding (the defrocked Muslim ex-episcopal priest) conducted my son’s wedding in ’04 – http://geoffarnold.com/?p=364 in reply to micknugent #
Decompressing back in Seattle, after a busy (and productive) week in Silicon Valley. Thanks to everybody who made time to chat… #

Twitter Updates for 2009-04-03

Good breakfast and lunch meetings with former Sun colleagues; now heading to the city via SFO. #

Twitter Updates for 2009-04-02

Zoned out at the SFO Vagabond Inn, waiting for my son to get across from Berkeley so we can have dinner. Feeling a bit wiped… #
Wind here at SFO is crazy – W or WNW at 35mph gusting 45. Looks like they’re restricting approaches to 28R. #
Just checked at http://www.liveatc.net/search/ – they’re using 28L and 28R for both takeoffs and landings. Winds too strong to use 01L/R #

McLaren and basic commonsense

If you’re living in a world of totally transparent communications, and you tell a lie about something you said, you will be found out. What’s so hard about that? So (obviously) you don’t tell lies.
Somehow McLaren F1 failed this basic intelligence test in Australia, and the result is that Hamilton has been disqualified. The fact that the team accepted the decision without a peep of protest shows that they know exactly what they did.
There should be a lesson for politicians somewhere in this (Gonzalez? Cheney?), but maybe I’m overreaching.

Twitter Updates for 2009-04-01

Fun reconnection day: breakfast with Mark Towfiq, lunch with Martin Hall – both co-conspirators on WinSock back in the 1990’s. #
@lskrocki It reminds me that I’d be a fool not to pay it off every month…. #
Back at Adrian’s place after a day of very useful meetings. It’s a gorgeous evening, the scrub jays are complaining about my trespassing… #
Memo to self: when someone says they live in an “out of the way” location, consider the verticals as well as the horizontals…. #

Twitter Updates for 2009-03-31

Listening to Frank Zappa’s “Gregory Peccary” at Adrian’s #
@j0ni Twitter is an odd medium for an extended political rant. Perhaps you should get a blog…. #

Twitter Updates for 2009-03-30

On the 194 bus from Seattle to the airport. Too early for twittering, too bumpy for typing. #
@wernerbahlke already saw article and saved the PDF. Good counter to some of the bullshit and hype. #

Twitter Updates for 2009-03-30

Monumental stupidity by Kubica in squeezing Vettel and taking them both out! #
And so it WAS a Brawn 1-2! And Hamilton was 4th, while both Ferraris went out. Extraordinary. #
Reading: Bringing Cloud Computing Down to Planet Earth http://seekingalpha.com/a/2r0h #

"The Increment"

Here’s my review of the new David Ignatius’ spy novel, “The Increment”:

Compelling: strikes a good balance between naivety and cynicism
My initial encounter with The Increment was unpromising: an omniscient narrator remarking about the actions of the central characters in Tehran and Washington. Fortunately, the narrator’s voice was soon muted, and we were embroiled in a beautifully contrived tale of espionage, betrayal, and geopolitics. On one hand, the idealists; on the other, the cynical opportunists; caught in the middle, those who are revolted by both extremes.
I won’t provide any spoilers, because you really should experience the twists and turns of this narrative for yourself. Ignatius gets extra points for the compelling picture he conjures up of contemporary Tehran (and the rest of Iran). However he loses a star for the gung-ho use of technology, and for a couple of lazily stereotyped characters. Taken together, these factors made a couple of his plot twists wholly implausible. But never mind: it’s a most enjoyable read.