Today is the first day of the health order ( https://www.sccgov.org/sites/phd/DiseaseInformation/novel-coronavirus/Pages/order-health-officer-031620.aspx ) telling us to stay home except for essential activity. Getting groceries is considered an essential activity. The order recommends, but does not require, persons (such as myself and my wife) who are over 65 to stay home, period. My wife and I usually walk every morning… Continue reading My Adventures at Piazza
Category: Writing
Covid-19 Links
This page is intended to provide useful information on the current pandemic. It is my intention to include only official or authoritative sites. Journalists and politicians need not apply. Also, this list is shamelessly localized relative to my own community, Palo Alto, CA. Nevertheless a subset of these links may also be helpful for others… Continue reading Covid-19 Links
Personal Experiences in Japan
The following is an article that I wrote while living in Japan in the mid ’80s and is reproduced from Viewport, volume 4, number 8, August 1984. Viewport was the company newspaper for Calma, the company I worked for at the time. Thinking of Japan as samurai and geishas is about as realistic as thinking… Continue reading Personal Experiences in Japan
Happy birthday, Lennie
Today, August 25, 2018, is Leonard Bernstein’s 100th birthday. I first became aware of Bernstein as a child through a series of TV programs (on CBS–can you imagine classical music on a commercial TV network today?) This series was actually a televised live concert series with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, called the “Young People’s… Continue reading Happy birthday, Lennie
Eclipse 2017
Last week we were in Oregon to witness the total solar eclipse. I had always wanted to see one; this might be my last chance. I took several consumer cameras, including my smart phone, and took pictures with several of them, but none of those pictures really came out. (Part of my goal was not… Continue reading Eclipse 2017
My Experience with Start-ups
Recently a friend of mine sent me a link to this CNBC article: http://www.cnbc.com/2016/08/30/i-got-scammed-by-a-silicon-valley-start-up-commentary.html that tells the sad tale of the messy collapse of a Silicon Valley start-up. This New York Times article strips away the pseudonyms and gives some additional details: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/01/technology/a-silicon-valley-dream-collapses-in-allegations-of-fraud.html?_r=0 Aside from the allegations of fraud, I think this story is all too common… Continue reading My Experience with Start-ups
Who Invented the Computer?
“We’ve learned the hard way that between the word ‘first’ and the word ‘computer’ there are about 19 adjectives” — John Hollar, Former CEO of the Computer History Museum The title of this essay is a simple question. One would think it would have a simple answer, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. There are… Continue reading Who Invented the Computer?
Life Cycle of a Linux Program
Introduction This is an investigation of the life cycle of a program in a Linux system. Actually, there are (at least) two meanings of “program life cycle”: The development life cycle (requirements, design, code, test, deploy…) The execution life cycle of a program when it is run. We will discuss the latter. How is a new… Continue reading Life Cycle of a Linux Program
IBM 1401 Resurrected
The IBM 1401 Computer was one of the first computer systems I worked on. Among other things, it was the computer used at that time by the U.S. Army computer-programming school which I attended in the fall of 1968. We were told that whoever finished first in the class would have their choice of next… Continue reading IBM 1401 Resurrected
Shakespeare on Depression
Several years ago (2006, it turns out) I wrote an essay on “Shakespeare on Depression” which quoted some lines from Hamlet. I have long had the idea making an audio recording of that essay with a real Shakespearan actor reading the lines from Hamlet. The stars have aligned. I have a new Macbook which is… Continue reading Shakespeare on Depression