Blog Archive: February 2017
Emacs on Multics
Seen on the Unix Heritage Society mailing list today: an interesting document about Emacs on Multics. Do I care about Multics? Not overly, but this is one of the most comprehensive documents I've seen written about Emacs before 1980. ACM only downloads articles once. It's possible that this article has changed since being downloaded, but the only way you can find out is by looking at the original article.
Spaced Paragraphs in Word
The Internet is fierce with polemics about one-space-or-two-after-the-period. Bah, lightweight stuff. What about all those poor people you see making MS Word docs look a little more spacious by inserting an extra empty line between paragraphs? There is a better way! But the Office UI (on Mac at least) is heinous, so heres a step-by-step. Behold two paragraphs of text, crushed unkindly against each other. What you want to do is tell Word to henceforth leave a tasteful amount of space between all your paragraphs, without you having to moronically double-Enter. You pull down the Format menu and select Style , for reasons which are obvious if you understand how Word thinks about the presentation units that it manages for you.
Networking with E-M1 Mark II
Another thing to check was whether Olympus has improved the wireless networking capability. No. This time I was completely unable to connect to my iPhone. That's probably me losing my way on the stepping stones, not the camera. It worked on the Samsung phone after the usual pain. When will they get it right? ACM only downloads articles once.
PayPal deductions
After last week's débacle with PayPal, I've been keeping an eye on the transaction. On Thursday, I got an email telling me that my account was negative, and that I should do something about it. But the account showed that was balanced, and there was no evidence that the money had been deducted from any of my bank accounts. And that's the way it was until today, so I sent them a message via their internal system pointing out the issue and asking them to contact me. The say that they'll take up to 24 hours to respond, so I'll wait for that.
New Yorkers! Come see Edward Snowden and me onstage at the NYPL on the Walkaway tour!
I’m touring 20 US cities (plus dates in Canada and the UK!) with my forthcoming novel Walkaway; the full tour hasn’t been announced yet, but I’m delighted to reveal that the NYC stop on May 3 will be at the New York Public Library, where my interlocutor will be the whistleblower Edward Snowden. Tickets are... more
New Yorkers! Come see Edward Snowden and me onstage at the NYPL on the Walkaway tour!
I’m touring 20 US cities (plus dates in Canada and the UK!) with my forthcoming novel Walkaway; the full tour hasn’t been announced yet, but I’m delighted to reveal that the NYC stop on May 3 will be at the New York Public Library, where my interlocutor will be the whistleblower Edward Snowden. Tickets are... more
Wireless remote control
Reading the online instructions for the Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II (the toy guide only has an invalid pointer), found that the camera has a dedicated input for a shutter remote control, something that sounds financially suboptimal. It requires a dedicated remote control from Olympus, the RM-CB2 Remote Cable, with the information that it is a mini-plug type (2.5¦) . I suppose that means a 2.5 mm phone plug. That's very plausible. On closer examination, that's the connector to my remote control: So all I need is a short cable with 2.5 mm connector at each end.
Back-to-Basic Weekend Reading: Byzantine Generals
In Reliable Distribution Systems, we need to handle different failure scenarios. Many of those deal with message loss and process failure. However, there is a class of scenarios that deal with malfunctioning processes, which send out conflicting information. The challenge is developing algorithms that can reach an agreement in the presence of these failures. Lamport described that he was frustrated with the attention that Dijkstra had gotten for describing a computer science problem as the story of dining philosophers. He decided the best way to attract attention to a particular distributed systems problem was to present it in terms of a story; hence, the Byzantine Generals.
Receiving calls with an iPhone
I've had difficulty receiving calls with my iPhone in the past, so on the way into Ballarat today I asked Yvonne to call me on the phone (in my pocket). Diverted to voice mail. It worked later when we got into town. Why? There are numerous valid reasons, but I'll have to research them. Wasn't life simple before smart phones? ACM only downloads articles once.
Back-to-Basics Weekend Reading: Byzantine Generals
In Reliable Distributed Systems, we need to handle different failure scenarios. Many of those deal with message loss and process failure. However, there is a class of scenarios that deal with malfunctioning processes, which send out conflicting information. The challenge is developing algorithms that can reach an agreement in the presence of these failures.
StarTrack? Cosmic implosion
I have established that my camera made it to Ballarat sometime yesterday, so tried once again to find out where it was. Another attempt to track it failed with another 64 bit random error number. Can this be the interface from eBay? If so, of course, it should be able to recover, but the system is clearly badly written. So I went straight to https://startrack.com.au/ and entered 5ZQ7580. Bingo! In passing, it's worth admiring how they mutilated the tracking number: And it's delivered!
Rearranging monitors
Finally received a dual-link DVI cable for my monitors, after the abortive attempt two weeks ago. It cost 3 times as much, but it looks right, and yes, it works. Spent far too much time reconfiguring X for the new setup (exchange screens 2 and 3). There's really something strange about the configuration for server 1, and I still don't have it right, though it's more a cosmetic issue than anything else. ACM only downloads articles once.
Where's my camera?
My camera comes with a tracking number, of course, and eBay will get the status for you. Some of the time. What I got was: Error Please contact the StarTrack Service Desk on 1800 028 361 and quote reference # 585ff7b324518e2a. 64 bits hexadecimal! Was it maybe a transient error? Hard to say: I tried twice more and got: Please contact the StarTrack Service Desk on 1800 028 361 and quote reference # cd6fba3c201d8e57. Please contact the StarTrack Service Desk on 1800 028 361 and quote reference # f153a59e694e2866.
PayPal problems again
First thing this morning, checked my bank balance: -$1,964.44! Despite my efforts, PayPal had deducted from my bank accountand the bank had honoured the charge! What do do? I had my virtual paper trail, but it's good to be in a position of strength, so I first called Consumer Affairs Victoria on 1300 55 81 81 and spoke to Greg, who told me they weren't responsible for this kind of issue: that's the Financial Ombudsman on 1300 780 808. Another 1300 number, one of the most expensive I can call. Asked him for a landline number and was given 1800 367 287.
Looking Up
Seems like everyone I know is blue and grouchy and angry; cant say as I blame them. But its time to turn a corner, because the futures just as long as ever, and we need joy to face it. Let me see if I can help. Canadas first few crocuses are up! Yes, I did blog about the spring crocuses in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 (twice!) , 2009 (twice!) , 2010 (twice!) , 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015. Clearly I need to remediate 2016s lacklustre performance. Once again, as I often do, I should echo the question from John Crowleys awesome Little, Big (seriously, one of the best books): What is Brother North-Winds secret? The answer: If Winter comes, Spring cant be far behind. This winter, our discontent has been political mostly.
Geek Career Paths
Suppose youre doing technology, and like doing technology, and your careers going well, and you find yourself wondering what youre going to be doing in twenty years. Ive been down several of the roads you might decide to take, and it occurs to me that talking them over might amuse and inform. Thanks are due to Andre Leibovici, who tweeted Is it possible to be in a sr. leadership position and still be hands-on w/ tech & code? For geek leaders out there... how to juggle? and got me thinking about this. Q: Should you stay in tech-related work? Seriously, this is the most important question.
The Road to Debugging Success
A colleague recently asked me how to debug a Linux embedded system that crashed in the Unix shell (and only there), when its memory got filled through the buffer cache. He added that when he emptied the buffer cache the crash no longer occurred.
Distinguishing between maybe-null vs never-null is the important thing
This discussion today on the Core Guidelines repo issues is probably of broad interest. It’s regarding why we chose to annotate not_null<T*> rather than the reverse in the Guidelines and the Guideline Support Library (GSL). Pasting here: I would take this interface reduction one step further and make an un-annotated T* implicitly “not null”. I […]
Distinguishing between maybe-null vs never-null is the important thing
This discussion today on the Core Guidelines repo issues is probably of broad interest. It’s regarding why we chose to annotate not_null<T*> rather than the reverse in the Guidelines and the Guideline Support Library (GSL). Pasting here: I would take this interface reduction one step further and make an un-annotated T* implicitly “not null”. I … Continue reading Distinguishing between maybe-null vs never-null is the important thing →
February NYCDevOps meetup: Tiny Talks CfP
The NYC DevOps meetup is trying something new in February: Tiny Talks. Tiny talks are short, 5-10 minute talks usually presented by members. They can be basically any topic related to DevOps. The idea is to encourage local members to present at meetings. We'll be doing this for our first time at the February 21, 2017 NYCDevOps meetup. You are encouraged to sign up here (though we won't be strict if you show up with a presentation.) From the website: Tiny talks are 5-10 minute talks on any DevOps-related topic. We want to encourage everyone to submit a proposal.
This spring: High-Performance and Low-Latency C++ (Stockholm) and ACCU (Bristol)
I don’t get to Europe very often apart from ISO C++ standards meetings, but this spring I’ve been able to accept invitations for two English-language European events in the last week of April. If you’re interested in attending, please check out the links, and I look forward to meeting and re-meeting many of you there. Tue-Thu […]
This spring: High-Performance and Low-Latency C++ (Stockholm) and ACCU (Bristol)
I don’t get to Europe very often apart from ISO C++ standards meetings, but this spring I’ve been able to accept invitations for two English-language European events in the last week of April. If you’re interested in attending, please check out the links, and I look forward to meeting and re-meeting many of you there. Tue-Thu … Continue reading This spring: High-Performance and Low-Latency C++ (Stockholm) and ACCU (Bristol) →
Tom speaking at NYCDevOps meetup, Feb 21, 2017
I'll be the speaker at the February meeting of NYCDevOps. I'll be presenting my talk "Stealing the Best Ideas from DevOps: A Guide for Sysadmins without Developers". If you didn't see me give this talk at Usenix LISA, you can catch it here. https://www.meetup.com/nycdevops/events/237543220/ Please RSVP. Seating is limited.
Two AWS Years
Wow, it was December 2014 when I climbed on board this train. Im sitting in a pretty interesting place and feel I owe the world some reportage. In terms of what its like to work to work here, I dont have much to add to last years write-up. Since then Ive got my fingerprints all over two AWS services: CloudWatch Events and Step Functions. There are few things as much fun as helping ship something and watching people start to use it. If you want opinions on what those products mean and how well they work, there are lots of blogs out there written by people who are less biased.
Now in the UK! Pre-order signed copies of the first edition hardcover of Walkaway, my first adult novel since Makers
The UK’s Forbidden Planet is now offering signed hardcovers of Walkaway, my first novel for adults since 2009 — this is in addition to the signed US hardcovers being sold by Barnes and Noble. Walkaway has scored starred reviews in Booklist (“memorable and engaging” and “ultimately suffused with hope”) and Kirkus (“A truly visionary techno-thriller... more
Now in the UK! Pre-order signed copies of the first edition hardcover of Walkaway, my first adult novel since Makers
The UK’s Forbidden Planet is now offering signed hardcovers of Walkaway, my first novel for adults since 2009 — this is in addition to the signed US hardcovers being sold by Barnes and Noble. Walkaway has scored starred reviews in Booklist (“memorable and engaging” and “ultimately suffused with hope”) and Kirkus (“A truly visionary techno-thriller... more
Back-to-Basic Weekend Reading: Monte-Carlo Methods
I always enjoy looking for solutions to difficult challenges in non-obvious places. That is probably why I like using probabilistic techniques for problems that appear to be hard, or impossible to solve deterministically. The probabilistic approach may not result in the perfect result, but it may get you very close, and much faster than deterministic techniques (which may even be computationally impossible). Some of the earliest approaches using probabilities in physics experiments resulted in the Monte Carlo methods. Their essential idea is using randomness to solve problems that might be deterministic in principle. These are a broad class of computational algorithms that rely on repeated random sampling to obtain numerical results.
Back-to-Basic Weekend Reading: Monte-Carlo Methods
I always enjoy looking for solutions to difficult challenges in non-obvious places. That is probably why I like using probabilistic techniques for problems that appear to be hard, or impossible to solve deterministically. The probabilistic approach may not result in the perfect result, but it may get you very close, and much faster than deterministic techniques (which may even be computationally impossible).
Cascadia IT Conference: Registration is open!
I am pleased to announce that the 7th Annual Cascadia IT conference Registration is open at https://www.casitconf.org/casitconf17/register-now/. This years conference features tutorials on Git, Reusable Infrastructures, Time Management (based on my book), AWS, and Advanced Communication Strategies along with several talks and a keynote by Corey Quinn. Cascadia IT Conference will be held on March 10-11 in Seattle WA. https://www.casitconf.org
Back-to-Basics Weekend Reading - Bloom Filters
Listening to the "Algorithms to Live By" audio on my commute this morning I once again was struck by the beauty of Bloom Filters. So I think it is time to resurrect the Back-to-Basics Weekend Reading series, as I will be re-reading some really fundamental CS papers this weekend. In the past I have done some weekend reading about Counting Bloom Filters, but now I am going even more fundamental. Bloom Filters, conceived by Burton Bloom in 1970, are probabilistic data structures to test whether an item is in a set. False positives are possible but false negatives are not. So if a bit in the filter is not set you can be sure the item is not in the set, if it is set, the mapped item may be in the set.
Back-to-Basics Weekend Reading - Bloom Filters
Listening to the “Algorithms to Live By” audio on my commute this morning, once again I was struck by the beauty of Bloom Filters. So, I decided it is time to resurrect the ‘Back-to-Basics Weekend Reading’ series, as I will be re-reading some fundamental CS papers this weekend. In the past, I have done some weekend reading about Counting Bloom Filters, but now I am going even more fundamental, and I invite you to join me.
Pre-order a signed first edition of Walkaway, which got a starred review in Booklist today!
Here’s a reminder that you can pre-order a signed first edition hardcover of Walkaway, my first novel for adults since 2009, which William Gibson called “A wonderful novel” and Edward Snowden called “a reminder that the world we choose to build is the one we’ll inhabit” and Kim Stanley Robinson called “a utopia is both... more
Pre-order a signed first edition of Walkaway, which got a starred review in Booklist today!
Here’s a reminder that you can pre-order a signed first edition hardcover of Walkaway, my first novel for adults since 2009, which William Gibson called “A wonderful novel” and Edward Snowden called “a reminder that the world we choose to build is the one we’ll inhabit” and Kim Stanley Robinson called “a utopia is both... more