Deep-Thoughts

I gave a Lightning Talk at SREcon16 and I was lucky enough to win the SRE book from Google while I was there. Here are some notes of things I was thinking while reading it. First, this is a phenomenal piece of work, that really marks a special point in time: the dawn of the possibility of wide adoption of SRE principles. I say, “possibility” because after getting exposed to the deepest details of what makes SRE work, I think that there are lots of organizations that won’t be willing or able to make it work. ...

Thanks, Dave, for speaking up for what’s right. I’m with you, buddy. I also find harassment offensive, and I pledge to do the same as you. We need to draw a line in the sand, and organize ourselves so that healthy, respectful teams are on one side of it, and trolls are on the other side of it. I’m so thankful that my boss has created a respectful, mixed workplace.

While I was reading this blog about how NSA’s bad-BIOS malware probably works, I was struck by a “coincidence”: Dell does significant amount of government contracting work. In fact, Ed Snowden worked for Dell at one point. NSA’s bad-BIOS targets the RAID cards in Dell servers. Now, Dell servers are widely deployed. I’ve used them in several jobs, for example. So it’s not unreasonable that NSA would target them, to get the best bang for the buck. But it also seems possible that in order to achieve the things Dell’s executives promised to NSA executives in fancy sales calls, some Dell engineers would find themselves using what they know about Dell servers to write bad-BIOS malware to attack those very servers. ...

The nicest thing happened to me on the way home from work… I got one of those movie-perfect double takes from a guy I passed. Of course, it was probably due to the pretty rainbow umbrella I was carrying, while cruising along on my unicycle. Years ago I realized that if it’s a grey rainy day it is nice to have bright colours overhead. Black umbrellas should be outlawed!

I’ve been away from the web for a while because I was in Olivone, Ticino, Switzerland getting married! Thanks to friends and family who came from so far away to witness such a special day. And thanks also to our wonderful vendors, who made the day go so well. If you are thinking of putting on a wedding in Blenio, give these guys a call: Restaurant/Hotel Arcobaleno Osteria Centrale Casa Lucomagno Pasticceria Bini for wedding cakes Viva gli sposi wedding photojournalism Giramondo Travel Agency for the wedding registry Sonpalaria, the heartbeat of the Ticinese dance floor! It feels different to be married. It seems like it shouldn’t… the house is the same, we still sleep on the same sides of the bed. But it’s different. Good. And safe. And happy. And… different. ...

There’s a guy in Philly who realized he’s rich, because me makes $30,000 as a community organizer, and many people in the world live on far less. He decided to go on a diet, for his own helath, but also to understand what it means to live on a simple diet. That’s already an interesting story, but what’s really interesting is this video he posted, where he talks about what held him back from starting the project (fear) and what the reality has been (support). This is exactly the same thing I found when I made the big change to leave IT and be a log for MSF. ...

I love Alex Chadwick. He’s proven he’s a real artist for finding stories on 50 cent interviews. He’s Studs Terkel for another generation.

When you fall in love with someone from another country, it just happens. Then what comes after that takes more effort. You have to learn to love the other culture you’ve thrown your lot in with. That process is, and will continue to be, a joy for Marina and me. Here’s an article that describes some of what I’ve learned about how life is organized in Europe. I followed the same course, roughly, as the author. Though I have to admit, I was never as skeptical as he was. Perhaps that’s because I was given humanist values by my mother, and I always understood that something wasn’t working right in my homeland. ...

Overheard here in England (which was, last I checked, a European country): I found a really interesting partnership we could join, but we’d have to make friends with a bunch of Europeans. Insert sound of my jaw dropping the floor here…

What are the economic effects of the repair vs replace decision? Interesting question, that. If you missed “more local employment of the blue collar type”, go read this: There is a slight diversion of purchasing strategy, repair rather than replace. This feeds a blue collar industry in the local region. It used to be, when money was loose, replace with new was the norm. If the repair was 75 percent of the cost of replacement a new motor was ordered, the old motor was scraped, and the country of origin (Mexico, China, Taiwan) benefited. These beautiful USA built, 50 year old, 200 horsepower motors, were going to the scrap heap. ...