People Stuff

Help Find Jim Gray

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This just came through on the HPCwire mailing list. I’ve been watching this unfold for a week now, having been reading Jim Gray’s papers for years, and it would be sad to see him gone. I repost this information in the hopes that more people will join the search and we can find him or conclusively determine what happened to him. If you can sort through a few images a lot of people would be very grateful. ———— The disappearance of computer scientist, Jim Gray, has initiated an unprecedented Internet-based search, with thousands of volunteers examining online satellite images. Gray, 63, hasn’t been seen since he sailed from San Francisco on Sunday, January 28, to scatter his mother’s ashes near …

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Weddings, Holidays

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I’m off to the Twin Cities for Christmas. Before I go some overdue congratulations need to go out. First, to Jon and Maureen. Jon was probably my first reader here, and he’s been a great friend, coworker, and drinking partner for a long time. Maureen is awesome, one of the only women I know that not only tolerates our shenanigans but will routinely one-up us, too. Not unpredictably they are now going to make their relationship official. Yea! 🙂 Congratulations! Second, to Derick and Maitri, for the same reasons. Their last attempt at getting married was foiled by big swirly atmospheric disturbances so I wish them a happy, uneventful wedding ceremony this round. May it go off with only one …

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Unmasked

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I don’t know quite when I began reading blogs. Almost certainly three to five years ago. The advent of RSS and news aggregators definitely helped that, making the phenomenon about the content and not about visiting a lot of web sites. Two blogs I started reading early on are written by women, each creating an intensely personal chronicle of each life, often with a resolution of minutes. As I thought about it, it amazed me that each one, in the face of identity theft, stalkers, rapists, and general inconsiderate behaviour these two were maintaining their privacy. They were doing so despite their sharing information with the anonymous world. Is this possible? Can privacy be sustained by a blogger? I haven’t …

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I Don't Know

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One of the biggest differences between a senior system administrator and a junior system administrator lies in knowledge of their own knowledge. Both know a vast quantity of information but the senior admin has the ability to say “I don’t know” when he needs to research something further. He does not see that phrase as an admission of weakness but as a promise to not mislead the person asking the question with an inaccurate answer. A good customer, employer, or colleague will appreciate this trait, especially when the correct answer is supplied in a timely fashion.

Lazy

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One of the biggest differences between a senior system administrator and a junior system administrator lies in laziness. Both are equally lazy, but the senior admin is not self-conscious and plans accordingly. The junior admin does not admit such things so to look strong, yet tasks are left undone or completed in haste.

Do Or Do Not, There Is No "What If"

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What’s the difference between a one-off solution and the beginning of a trend? What’s the difference between a kludge and a brilliant fix? What’s the difference between the bleeding edge and the cutting edge? Vision. How do you get a vision? Be out there doing things. Find out what works and what doesn’t. What if I don’t have time to be out there doing things? Then you will always be at the mercy of others. Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, …

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Getting Your Mind Off Of Things

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A post yesterday stated that I was about to play SimCity while at work. “OMFG, you play games at work?!?” Yup. Sure do. I play “SimCity 4: Rush Hour” when I am thinking about stuff. I play “Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory” when I’m stressed out. “Does your boss know about this?” She sure does. In fact, the other day a fire started in my city and I paused our conversation while I dispatched fire trucks. “She’s okay with it?” Sure. She’s been a friend of mine for years so she’d say something if it was a problem. She knows I get a lot of stuff done, and also knows that people need to get their mind off of things sometimes in …

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