Never forget - 9/11 eight years later

In memory of those who lost their lives

It seems as though people are starting to forget the horrible events of September 11, 2001. Perhaps the global economic issues have become more important. Or, maybe the US is more focused on other issues, such as health care reform. Or, maybe Americans have started to think that it can't happen again here. I don't know. But, I will never forget what happened that day.

 I will always remember exactly where I was when I first heard that a plane had hit the World Trade Center in New York. I will never forget watching the second plane hit the other tower.  Neither will I forget the events at the US Pentagon or in a field in Pennsylvania. For a brief moment, the world was united in sorrow for those who lost their lives, and in thanks for those who helped to save lives.

I continue to pray for the families of those who lost their lives that day, and I continue to give thanks for those who sacrifice daily to protect us from another such event.

Posted at 07:02AM Sep 11, 2009 by jcinfoblog in General  |  Comments[0]

The 12 Days of a Sun Holiday

(With lots of "poetic license" and apologies to nearly everyone....)

On the first day of Christmas, Sun Micro gave to me
An OpenSolaris community.

On the second day of Christmas, Sun Micro gave to me
HPC solutions,
And an OpenSolaris community.

On the third day of Christmas, Sun Micro gave to me
Three software VPs,
HPC solutions,
And an OpenSolaris community.

On the fourth day of Christmas, Sun Micro gave to me
Four quarters' earnings,
Three software VPs,
HPC solutions,
And an OpenSolaris community.

On the fifth day of Christmas, Sun Micro gave to me
JavaFX,
Four quarters' earnings,
Three software VPs,
HPC solutions,
And an OpenSolaris community.

On the sixth day of Christmas, Sun Micro gave to me
Six systems filing,
JavaFX,
Four quarters' earnings,
Three software VPs,
HPC solutions,
And an OpenSolaris community.

On the seventh day of Christmas, Sun Micro gave to me
Seven clouds computing,
Six systems filing,
JavaFX,
Four quarters' earnings,
Three software VPs,
HPC solutions,
And an OpenSolaris community.

On the eighth day of Christmas, Sun Micro gave to me
Eight glasses fishing,
Seven clouds computing,
Six systems filing,
JavaFX,
Four quarters' earnings,
Three software VPs,
HPC solutions,
And an OpenSolaris community.

On the ninth day of Christmas, Sun Micro gave to me
Nine boxes virtualizing,
Eight glasses fishing,
Seven clouds computing,
Six systems filing,
JavaFX,
Four quarters' earnings,
Three software VPs,
HPC solutions,
And an OpenSolaris community.

On the tenth day of Christmas, Sun Micro gave to me
Ten board members cheering,
Nine boxes virtualizing,
Eight glasses fishing,
Seven clouds computing,
Six systems filing,
JavaFX,
Four quarters' earnings,
Three software VPs,
HPC solutions,
And an OpenSolaris community.

On the eleventh day of Christmas, Sun Micro gave to me
Eleven NAS devices,
Ten board members cheering,
Nine boxes virtualizing,
Eight glasses fishing,
Seven clouds computing,
Six systems filing,
JavaFX,
Four quarters' earnings,
Three software VPs,
HPC solutions,
And an OpenSolaris community.

On the twelfth day of Christmas, Sun Micro gave to me
Twelve products shipping,
Eleven NAS devices,
Ten board members cheering,
Nine boxes virtualizing,
Eight glasses fishing,
Seven clouds computing,
Six systems filing,
JavaFX,
Four quarters' earnings,
Three software VPs,
HPC solutions,
And an OpenSolaris community.

Happy Holidays to All, and Best Wishes for a Fine 2009!

Posted at 10:40PM Dec 23, 2008 by jcinfoblog in General  |  Comments[0]

Truly Advanced Computing – A Visit to TACC

One of the real highlights of the HPC Consortium was a visit to the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC). TACC is part of an extended US large computing facility group known as the TeraGrid. The TeraGrid includes many of the university-related supercomputing facilities (including the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, which is near-and-dear to my historical educational heart) as well as the national labs (Oak Ridge, Los Alamos, and so on). This extended grid enables researches to share information and projects across the country. At the core of TACC is a system known as Ranger. You can read more about it here.

From my perspective, two things are really important about the visit to TACC:

1. When you see a truly big computing center, it changes your perspective on what you do.
2. Back when I first started working on computers, a computer of approximately the same physical size as the whole Ranger system had about as much computing power as an iPod has now (or even your cell phone).

Perspective

When you visit the Ranger room, you see a lot of hardware and a lot of green. I’ve known about the “sea of green” concept for years, but to see it on the scale of Ranger is just amazing. Literally, at a glance, you can see the status of any hardware component in the room. If you aren’t in the room, of course, you use remote software monitoring tools to show you the virtual representation of the same thing.

My brain working the way it does, I then ask “Well, could you do this in Second Life (or some similar virtual world)?” In other words, you build a representation of your physical data center in the virtual space (using, I assume, a simple click-and-drag interface). This virtual representation communicates via the appropriate management protocols to get status information from your real-world data center. Then, in the virtual world (when you aren’t physically in the data center), you can “walk through” your data center and see the status at a glance. It would be cool. Would it be better than some of the current, less graphic-intensive, less realistic representations of the same concept? I don’t know. What do you think?

The other interesting thing that came to my mind was what this kind of environment means to information. The traditional approach to information products has been to provide detailed documentation about individual components in the system (hardware and software). It is then largely left up to the user to figure out how to put those components together in their own environment and to then write down anything that they think is important. To a certain extent, we will never change this approach (and shouldn’t). However, the question that I have to ask is whether users would be better served if we spent time on documentation some of the “best practices” around how to put components together into a larger solution and how the customer can use that to achieve certain real-world/job tasks.

Computing Power

Enough said. ☺ The first time that I worked on a computer, it was an old DEC 10 system. A few years later, when I started working at DEC, VAXes had come out, and they had a lot more computing power for the physical space. When you then see a room the size of the Ranger room at TACC, and calculate the amount of computing power now in that space, the mind is filled with the amazing leaps that we have made in technology over the past 30 years. A couple of the presenters at the Consortium asked “Where will we be in 10 years?” That is an interesting question, and a topic for several more blogs.

Posted at 01:36PM Nov 18, 2008 by jcinfoblog in General  |  Comments[0]

Everybody's Workin' on the Weekend....

Taking the words from a 1980s Loverboy song and changing them slightly, a large number of Sun employees, partners, customers, and students are "working" this weekend at the HPC Consortium in Austin, TX. There's so much to talk about that it's going to be difficult for me to decide what to mention. Of course, I'm not the only person who's blogging this event, and some folks are on twitter, too.

Before I start my various blogs about the actual Consortium and the content of the presentations, though, I should probably talk about some changes in my job over the past couple of months which would help you to understand why I'm at this Consortium. As I had mentioned in a previous blog entry, Sun Grid Engine 6.2 had reached a significant milestone. So, once that milestone was reached, it was time for me to go apply my skills to some other products. One of my current projects keeps me closely affiliated with Sun Grid Engine, while the other is in a different area.

The first project is really not a new project, but it has advanced into some different areas. Last Spring, I became involved with a small project to provide a preview stack for people who want to develop HPC applications on Solaris. Sun Grid Engine is one of the components that comprise this stack. For information about the Sun HPC Software for Solaris project, see the HPC developer product community on OpenSolaris and the associated information wiki.

The other project on which I am working is an update to the Sun SAM-QFS software. As some of you know, I have spent quite a bit of time in various storage software projects during my career (some in a "previous life" at a company once known as DEC). So, it's nice to return back to the storage software world. I can't say a lot about that project yet, but from an information products' perspective, watch this space.

So, now that you know what I've been doing, it might be obvious why I am attending this particular conference. The link between HPC and SAM-QFS might not be as obvious as the link for the HPC Software for Solaris. However, the various features of the SAM archive management product and the QFS file system are used in many existing HPC environments. Furthermore, future features (such as object support on OpenSolaris) might make these products even more effective for HPC purposes.

Okay, that's enough to get this group of entries started. I'll have more to add over the next couple of days. Stay tuned.

Posted at 11:02PM Nov 15, 2008 by jcinfoblog in General  |  Comments[0]

Never forget - 9/11 seven years later

It is September 11th again. One of the news networks this morning said that the American people had become "complacent" about 9/11 and about terrorism. On the other hand, some polls show that more than 50% of Americans still think that the war on terror is as important as it was just after the events of September 11, 2001. Have we become complacent? Have we forgotten how almost 3000 people from 90 countries were killed on that day?

I obviously have not forgotten. I cannot, and I will not. Even if I did not personally know people who were directly affected by the events of September 11, 2001, I do not believe that I will ever forget what happened. As I get older, I notice that my memory has gotten worse. But, the events of that day remain as clear in my mind as if it had happened yesterday.

Whether you believe that some of those events were "an inside job" (as suggested by the response to my post on this topic last year), that does not change the fact that 3000 people died in a very brief time span. Those victims deserve our remembrance. Their families need to know that they are not forgotten.

Terrorism exists. Terrorism has been around since long before September 11, 2001. Terrorist events happen almost daily in various places around the world. The fact that no significant terrorist events have occurred in the US since September 11, 2001, is not an indication that 9/11 was an inside job. Rather, the lack of additional events results directly from the actions of dedicated people around the world, people who have dedicated their lives to ensuring our safety and freedom.

We don't live in a perfect world. We do not "just all get along." Conflict of some sort has been around since mankind came into existence (and even before). On this day, let us not just remember the people who died on September 11, 2001, but let us also remember those people who continue to sacrifice every day to help stop conflict around the world.

Posted at 09:08AM Sep 11, 2008 by jcinfoblog in General  |  Comments[4]

Sun Grid Engine 6.2 (What I Have Been Doing Lately)

Since my last post in May, I have been busy with the folks in Regensburg (and elsewhere) putting together the latest Sun Grid Engine release. Today, the product releases and I can finally talk about it.

From a product perspective, Sun Grid Engine 6.2 has several improvements and one major new feature. The significant new feature, Service Domain Manager (SDM), enables you to move resources between Sun Grid Engine clusters. Read more about SDM.

From my perspective, the most important change in this release is that we moved all the information from docs.sun.com to wikis.sun.com. There are many reasons why we decided to move the information to a wiki, but I will only discuss my top two.

• Participation - It has always been difficult to get good feedback on information products. Although we have done surveys and held customer focus groups, we rarely get enough focused information on specific pages. Similarly, engineers often find it difficult to provide technical feedback at exactly the time when we need to have that feedback. The wiki helps. Anyone can comment on the information directly, and engineering can provide technical feedback when they have a few free minutes. In the case of the Sun Grid Engine wiki, several of the engineers have even taken on the burden of changing the technical content in the pages directly.
• Responsiveness - To change information on docs.sun.com involves several steps, each of which takes time. Even if everything goes well, it takes at least several hours to fix a simple typo. On the wiki, it takes only a minute or two to fix the same typo. Of course, in either environment, additional time is needed to confirm a technical change or to craft appropriate verbiage for a description. However, that time is the same in both models. Actually making the change on the wiki is much faster.

Is the wiki perfect? No. Is it our "last, best hope" for an information solution? No. But, it is progress for Sun Grid Engine. In addition to improved responsiveness and the ability to collaborate, we took the opportunity to fix some long-standing problems with the information content itself. Much of the old content was lifted literally from product specifications. Rather than explaining how to perform a task, it described how the software implemented the features. Although we did not rewrite every sentence in the information, we did rewrite a significant amount (probably 50%). We were also able to reorganize information to make more sense and to remove duplicated information. We have more to do, but it's exciting to be able to do something that has immediate visibility and to which our customers can respond directly.

• Check out the information on the wiki.
• Check out the new release of Sun Grid Engine.

Posted at 10:42AM Aug 05, 2008 by jcinfoblog in General  |  Comments[0]

Heading Back to the US, But More Germany to Come

I am at the airport in Munich, on my way back to the US after having spent a very busy and productive time in Regensburg. To the Grid Engine team in Regensurg, many thanks for a wonderful introduction to your beautiful city and for putting up with my poor German. Also, I appreciated the opportunity to learn more sbout what our product csn do in the "real world." Aufwiedersehen!

To those of you who hsve been following my journey, I still have a lot of tell you about my visit to Germany, so this thread really is not done. Most likely, though, I won't write again until Friday. Tschuss!

Posted at 03:49AM May 08, 2008 by jcinfoblog in General  |  Comments[0]

A Saturday in Regensburg

On Saturday, I went into the city of Regensburg to see what there was to see (and perhaps do a little bit of shopping). As I had said in my first blog of this series, it is a very old city and there is much of interest. However, you can read about that on the Regensburg tourism site.

Unknown to me when I planned my (business) trip to Regensburg, last weekend was very busy. There was the Regensburg marathon (mainly on Sunday), which brought many people into the city. In addition, because it was the first weekend in May, it is considered to be the official start to the "tourist" season. Saturday was also the "Nacht der Offenen Kirchen" (Night of the Open Churches). And, the weather was incredibly nice. I don't know if my impressions of the city would be much different if I had been here on a different weekend. In any case, here are a few interesting things that I observed.

Many cities in the US have a local "farmer's market." In Regensburg last Saturday, it seemed like the whole city was a farmer's market. Each "square" (in German, you call them "Plaz," and we don't have anything quite exactly equivalent in most US cities) had several tents, tables, and trucks. There were many plants to buy (especially flowering ones as it is the time of year to do your Spring planting), along with assorted meats and cheeses. In some places, there were ice cream (Eis) vendors, beer distributors, and home-baked goods. One of the markets also had a variety of cooking oils (mostly olive oil) and some locally-made wines. Many people had wooden baskets that they carried to the markets to fill with all these goodies. I suspect these many markets matched what we had in the US many years ago. In some of these places, there were also some musicians and other activities. And, yes, there was at least one man playing an accordion on the street corner (what most Americans might think of as "traditional German music").

In the inner city of Regensburg, really the "old" city, there are many new and old shops. You could easily spend days just looking at all the many different things to buy. If you want some current clothing, you can find that. If you want shoes, you can find those. Need a purse? Yes, there are many options for that too. Of course, you can shop for typical "tourist" items, such as shirts, post cards, coffee mugs, and so on. You can also shop for more traditional "German" items, such as a Bierkrug (commonly called a "beer stein" in the US), cuckoo clocks (which are usually Swiss, not German), traditional Bavarian clothing (Lederhosen for men, and Dirndal for ladies), and so on.

I went into a couple of bookstores, to see if they had any history books about Regensburg. Of course, they did, although they are written in German (surprise). They had picture books that were available in multiple languages, including English. More interesting, though, were the Bavarian-to-German dictionaries. Yes, you read that correctly. Many years ago, when I first learned to speak and read German, I was told that "Bayrisch is different" (according to my German teacher, whose ancestors hailed from much further North in Germany). I had not realized how different until coming here. Aside from specific words that they use in Bavaria, they also have a slightly different way of pronouncing the common words. You might compare the differences between Bayrisch and German to be similar to the differences between American and British English, or perhaps the differences between Southern American English and New England American English. Of course, the Bavarian people think their German is the "pure" German, while others feel completely different. I don't have an opinion, but it certainly has made for an interesting (re)learning experience for me.

I can't leave this topic without mentioning at least a few of the really interesting buildings in Regensburg. There is, of course, the twin-spired St. Peter's Cathedral which is worth a visit even if you are not Catholic. The old City Hall (Alte Rathaus) is also pretty interesting. If you happen to visit Regensburg, you will also see the old stone bridge and some other remnants of very old Roman fortifications. I could go on for some time, but I won't. Look for another blog entry soon.

Posted at 09:02AM May 07, 2008 by jcinfoblog in General  |  Comments[0]

Weather in Germany (Das Wetter)

If you look at latitude numbers, you will see that Regensburg (or, on most maps, use Munich as close enough) is at approximately the same latitude as Montreal (Canada). However, the weather during my visit has definitely not matched.

As of April 25, we still had snow in North Dakota (and, obviously, also in Canada). When I left home to come to Germany, it was not cold, but windy and still very dry. Grass was still brown, and trees had no leaves. Clearly, Spring had not yet "sprung." When I arrived here, I was quite pleasantly surprised to see that Spring was in full bloom. The trees and flowers are just at their Spring peak. When I arrived on Sunday, April 27, the temperature was around 18 or so (Celsius) which equates to upper-60s (Fahrenheit). Very nice.

However, it seems as though the other reason why everything is in bloom has to do with lots of rain. For much of the time that I have been here, we've been having what I would refer to as "typical" Spring weather. For part of the day, the Sun (die Sonne) shines brightly, with lots of blue sky and puffy clouds. Then, it clouds over and it rains. Sometimes, it rains quite hard; other times, it is just a gentle shower. There have even been some thunderstorms (das Donnerwetter). It reminds me a lot of the Spring weather pattern in western Pennsylvania, where I grew up. I find it somewhat interesting to note that the climate here seems to match the climate in Pennsylvania, given that many people in Pennsylvania have German, and even specifically Bavarian, ancestry.

This past weekend was incredibly nice. I'll talk more about what I did over the weekend in my next couple of posts.

Posted at 08:05AM May 07, 2008 by jcinfoblog in General  |  Comments[0]

Public Holiday in Germany (der Feiertag)

Yesterday (May 1) was a public holiday in Germany, as it is in many places other than the United States. I was talking with some of my Regensburg co-workers about the differences in how the US and Germany view holidays, and I thought that I would pass along some of that conversation.

In short, the German people take their holidays much more seriously than we do in the States. If it is a public holiday, thou shalt not go shopping (for food or clothes or anything). The stores are all closed (except for places such as gas stations, where you can get the absolutely necessary, such as milk). In the States, of course, many of us use the holiday as free time to do the shopping for which we otherwise do not have time.

One of my co-workers explained it to me something like this: Many years ago (during the time of Kaiser Wilhelm?), there was a decision made that public holidays must be for "pleasure" only. Of course, at that time, shopping was not what it is today. Then, shopping was a chore and work. So, shopping was forbidden on a public holiday. Eating out, though, is considered to be a pleasure, so the restaurants are open. These rules largely apply to Sundays, as well.

On the business side, people really are not supposed to work on the public holidays (or Sundays) here. If you go into the office, you are likely get asked by a security person "Why are you here? Don't you know that it's a public holiday?"

Maybe we could learn something from the Germans on this issue. What would happen in the US if the stores were all closed on all our public holidays? What if you really weren't permitted to work on those holidays (or on Sundays)? Would it cause us to spend more time with our families? Would it cause us to relax more? Or, would it make us less productive? Just something to think about, I guess.

Posted at 11:07AM May 02, 2008 by jcinfoblog in General  |  Comments[1]

People in Germany (Die Leuten)

In general, and in specific, the folks here in Bavaria are very nice. I will focus this blog specifically on the people with whom I am working, but will post another in a few days on the more general topic.

The Grid Engine team in Regensburg are all male (men, Die Menschen). This seems very odd to me, as most US offices are close to a 50-50 ratio between men and women. On the other hand, it is a small office (only 12 people). Fortunately, Jana (a woman, Eine Frau) came from Prague for a few days so that I would not be entirely alone. In any case, the team are all very nice. They are, of course, quite technical (as you would expect from people who write enabling technologies for high-performance computing applications). They make certain that I take a break at noon to eat lunch (das Mittagsessen) and ask if I would like companionship or suggestions for dinner (das Abendessen). In short, they are making sure that I feel a part of the team.

I won't detail each member of the team in Regensburg, but will provide just a few notes about them.

• Fritz, who is the leader of this team, has a great vision for future HPC products. On the personal side, Fritz follows Formula 1 racing, which gives he and I something in common.

• There are three people named "Andreas" on the team (and an "Andre," too). One of them goes by Andy, and the others often use last names to make clear which one is meant during a meeting or when it is not obvious. It's a very logical approach, but one that takes a little bit of adjustment for an American.

• Marco is soon going to be taking some "parental leave" for the birth of a new baby. In Germany, this leave lasts about six weeks and applies to both the man and the woman. In the US, typically only the woman gets any time off for a new birth, and I'm not sure it is always as long.

• Some of the folks on the team, including Richard and Jana, are heading over to the US next week to attend JavaOne and the Open Source Grid and Cluster Conference.

• Let's see, whom have I forgotten? Ernst, Christian, Roland, and Joachim are also great guys. I have not yet met Harald in person. He was not in the office earlier in the week, and yesterday was just too crazy. I am certain, however, that he will be just as pleasant as the others.

That's probably enough information about the team for now. Tschuss!

Posted at 08:42AM May 01, 2008 by jcinfoblog in General  |  Comments[0]

Eating Germany Food

When I arrived in Germany on Sunday, I asked my local contact to find me a "typical Bavarian restaurant." So, after a brief tour of the city to give me an idea of where interesting things are, we ended up at a small German restaurant, complete with attached brewery. The food was perfect, with choices such as Sauerbraten (beef roast done in the German way), Schweinehaxen (sort of like pork chops), and Ente (duck). The dark beer (Dunkels) was excellent - just slightly sweeter than what you typically find in the US that is labelled a dark beer.

On Monday evening, we went to an Italian restaurant. There are many of these in Regensburg and comparatively few "typical German" restaurants. I think that the Germans believe why go to a restaurant for what they can just cook at home? So, the Italian food was good, and perhaps just a bit less spicy than what you might find at a Macaroni Grill or Johnny Carino's in the states. However, even at the Italian restaurants, you can get German beer and wine.

So far, I have not yet been to a bakery (Bakerie) here. I am afraid to go, for fear that once I start eating German pastries, I won't stop (and I do have to fit into the clothes that I have while I'm here). Maybe I will have something to say about that on another day.

Posted at 12:43PM Apr 29, 2008 by jcinfoblog in General  |  Comments[3]

Greetings from Germany (Gruss aus Deutschland)

I am currently on a business trip to Regensburg, Germany, so keep an eye on my blog over the next few weeks for frequent updates.

It is Monday morning in Germany, but my body does not know what day or time it is. I left North Dakota on Saturday afternoon, flew overnight, lost seven hours, and have not yet entirely caught up with myself. The trip was mostly uneventful, except that my luggage (along with that of about 50% of the folks on the airplane) did not make it from Amsterdam to Munich with the plane. It came in a few hours later, though, and arrived safely at my hotel.

As an aside, it was a beautiful time to fly into Amsterdam. As we approached the airport, we saw many brightly colored fields out the window. These are the tulip fields. Of course, having left North Dakota where we have yet to see our Spring growing season (in part because it has been very dry), the flowers were very impressive. I will attempt to take a photo on the way back.

Upon arrival in Munich, I took a shuttle to the hotel in Regensburg. The drive took slightly over an hour, although it seemed faster, perhaps in part due to the Autobahn speeds. We drove through some very pretty country. Much of it seemed similar to parts midwestern US with rolling hills, lots of farmland, and many small towns.

Bearing in mind that I was quite tired when I arrived, my first impressions of Regensburg are "wow!" Parts of the old city date back almost 2,000 years. There are many different types of architecture, all nicely fitted together. I will have some time next weekend to do "the tourist thing" and will talk more about the city then.

In the meantime, you might be wondering about the "business" part of the trip. My reason for being here is to work with the Grid Engine team, who are based primarily here in Regensburg. We are in the process of completely redesigning the information for the next project release. In a few weeks, I'll be able to show you more.

Well, that's enough for now. As I said, I will blog frequently over the next two weeks to keep everyone informed.

Tschuss! (pronounced something like "chooss" is an informal German "bye-for-now")

Posted at 04:01AM Apr 28, 2008 by jcinfoblog in General  |  Comments[0]

What's on Your Bookshelf?

A co-worker recently heard that I have a whole library in my house. That is probably a slight exaggeration, but might not be. Anyhow, she wanted to know if I had any recommendations for her bookshelf. So, I thought I'd post some of my bookshelf for everyone to see. This is only a partial list that I created in response to her specific needs. I also suspect that there are other books in these same areas that should be on my list and aren't. So, take a look at my list and feel free to add your own comments about these books or about other books that might be good to have.

On writing

• Designing and Writing Online Documentation: Hypermedia for Self-Supporting Products, William Horton
• Standards for Online Communitation, JoAnn T. Hackos and Dawn M. Stevens
• Developing Effective User Documentation: A Human-Factors Approach, Henry Simpson and Steven M. Casey

On user-interface design and usability

• Designing the User Interface: Strategies for Effective Human-computer Interaction, Ben Shneiderman
• Handbook of Usability Testing, Jeffrey Rubin
• Usability Engineering, Jakob Nielsen
• The Humane Interface, Jef Raskin

On the industry

• Weaving the Web: The Original Design and Ultimate Destiny of the World Wide Web by Its Inventor, Tim Berners-Lee
• Fire in the Valley: The Making of the Personal Computer, Paul Freiberger and Michael Swaine
• Revolution in the Valley: The Insanely Great Story of How the Mac Was Made, Andy Hertfeld
• In the Beginning Was the Command Line, Neal Stephenson

Posted at 08:10AM Apr 12, 2008 by jcinfoblog in General  |  Comments[0]

HPC in a nutshell.... sort of

Ah, sure signs of Spring - the HPC have come out of their shells. When you see a whole cluster of them, doing what they do so well together, it is an amazing thing. Some are large; some are much smaller. Sometimes, they die. But the whole continues to function.

Oh, you thought that HPC meant High-Performance Computing, didn't you? Well, the joke's on you! I was talking about the High-Profile Critters that have reappeared in our yards for Spring. The prairie dogs (known here as "dakrats") have returned. And, yes, they aren't in a "nutshell," but they certainly are nutty.

Happy April Fool's Day!

Posted at 09:16AM Apr 01, 2008 by jcinfoblog in General  |  Comments[0]