Μια ιστορία με τον Boole

200 χρόνια σήμερα από την γέννηση του George Boole (σε περίπτωση που δεν καταλάβατε το σημερινό Google Doodle δηλαδή) και θυμήθηκα μια ιστορία:

Κάπου 20 χρόνια πριν εξετάστηκε ένας φίλος μου στην διδακτορική του διατριβή και κάποια στιγμή φτάνει η ώρα των ερωτήσεων. Υπήρχε ένας μέλος ΔΕΠ που ήταν κάπως πιο επιθετικό στις ερωτήσεις (χωρίς να υπάρχει κάποιος ιδιαίτερος λόγος) και κάνει την κλασική ερώτηση:

– Και που μπορεί να είναι χρήσιμα όλα αυτά στον πραγματικό κόσμο;
– Τι να σας πω. Και ο Boole όταν έφτιαξε την Άλγεβρα του, δεν περίμενε να υπάρχουν ηλεκτρονικοί υπολογιστές!
– Τολμάς να συγκρίνεις τον εαυτό σου με τον Boole;

Για όποιον ενδιαφέρεται, An Investigation in the Laws of Thought.

meetings and sabotage

It’s been a while since I’ve written any blog post and even more since I’ve written ten lines or more, so today I will copy something from this pdf that popped in my twitter stream (unfortunately, I didn’t keep a note of the tweet):

  • Insist on doing everything through “channels.” Never permit short-cuts to be taken in order to expedite decisions.
  • Make “speeches,” Talk as frequently as possible and at great length., Illustrate your. “points.. by long anecdotes and accounts of personal experiences. Never hesitate to make a few appropriate “patriotic”-comments.
  • When possible, refer all matters to committees, for “further study and consideration.” Attempt to make the committees as large as possible – never less than five.
  • Bring up irrelevant issues as frequently as possible.
  • Haggle over precise wordings of communications, minutes, resolutions.
  • Refer back to matters decided upon at the last meeting and attempt to re-open the question of the advisability of that decision.
  • Advocate “caution.” Be unreasonable and urge your fellow-conferees to be “reasonable” and avoid haste which might result in embarrassments or difficulties later on.
  • Be worried about the propriety of any decision – raise the question of whether such action as is contemplated Hes within the jurisdiction of the group 01’whether it might conflict with the policy of some higher echelon.

2-3

Confirmation bias: Στο 1-3 με την Βέρντερ κοιμόταν ο kid[0] δίπλα μου στον καναπέ. Στο 2-3 με την Arsenal κοιμόταν ο kid[1] δίπλα μου στον καναπέ. Στο 2-1 με την PSG στο 90′ κοιμόταν δίπλα μου η wife[0] και έσπασα και μια λάμπα.

Είναι να μη σε πιάνουν τα γούρια μετά :)

Using a BlinkStick to monitor the health of an ElasticSearch cluster

A BlinkStick is a USB powered LED that can be driven via a simple API from a programming language like Python. Since the status of an ElasticSearch cluster can be determined using three colors (green, yellow, red) a BlinkStick can be a nice visual aid in your monitoring infrastructure.  An easy proof of concept is to use the BlinkStick Website API that allows, given a token, for the color of your BlinkStick to be set remotely by your monitoring system for example. You can find such a proof of concept here: https://github.com/a-yiorgos/elastic-blink

BlinkStick, soldered
BlinkStick, soldered

Of course if you want a more elaborate and secure setup, it is possible. I had my 15 minutes of fun. YMMV.

You are a writer (so start acting like one)

I got You are a writer by Jeff Goins on a day it was given for free years ago. I got to read it over the weekend. I thought then, and I still do no now, that the book offers advice to people who write code too. Maybe because sometimes I believe that code is like a poem. So I will try to rehash advice I found useful here, since this seems to be one of the acceptable self-help books that have come my way.

While anyone can connect with anyone and put stuff out there, how does one gets noticed? By helping people. By relieving their pain. I’ve advocated answering one question per day on ServerFault (or StackOverflow, or whatever clicks to you), although I do not always practice this. I used to, though, years ago when mailing lists and newsgroups were the thing.

You need to build a platform. This blog is a platform. I post stuff here. Others do it with more success, for example John Sonmez who uses a variety of platforms (blog, YouTube channel, podcast, book) to publish his work (and he gives 90% of his work for free he said on Ruby Rogues). You make the platform and you establish a brand. Without a brand you are forgettable.

And you know what helps you not being forgotten? Networking does. Meaningful relationships do. Relationships that are mutual, matter to both parties and give you the opportunity to make friends and find mentors.

But nothing of the above makes any sense unless you are prepared to answer the following questions:

  • Am I serious?
  • Am I committed?
  • Am I prepared to be challenged?

Please take the time to sincerely answer these questions. And while you are at it, understand that you probably are not the best coder in the world yet. But you can become one. There is room at the top here.

Like one of the main characters in The Phoenix Project said, mastery comes through practice. And here Goins argues that the best kind of practice is done publicly. Interestingly GiHub seems to be our public place of practice.

While you’re at it, learn to estimate. Underpromise and overdeliver. Especially when you are part of a team. Like Goins writes, you have a gift. Someone is willing to work with you.

Go on! Practice.

The Phoenix Project

I remember I got the Phoenix Project for the Kindle for free on a promotional day sometime back in 2013. I’ve been meaning to read it ever since. But back in those days I was suffering from the problems that the main character is suffering for at least the first 35% of the book. And well, when you can simply rename the characters of a book and relive the experience it is not something that helps.

I finally made it this week and got through it with some late night reading. Just like now that I am writing the post minutes after reading the last page. I am not going to rumble about the three ways or even the four types of work. By now this is common stuff and even some years ago, if you tried to read about Systems Thinking or even Cybernetics, you would have reached to those conclusions. But hey a story always imprints a lesson better than a textbook and this is so much better than The Deadline. You want to revisit The Deadline in order to copy the notes of Mr. Tompkins. You do not need to revisit The Phoenix Project.

Interestingly the book forms a career path for people interested to follow. It kind of reminded me of Putt’s Law and how you cannot postpone your promotions forever. I find it kind of optimistic careerwise, depending the location of the reader and there is still the question of the top floor.

While this is a novel about DevOps, DevOps still means different things to different people. Luckily this is a novel for all people for whom DevOps at least means something.

Start me Up!

I cannot even remember how many disks Windows 95 was, fourteen, fifteen? Something like that. And how many hours installing it to machines around the lab.

That was the day I said goodbye to FTP software’s PC/TCP and Trumpet Winsock.

Speed of Dark

“If they aren’t going to listen, why should I talk?”

I learned about Speed of Dark from Katrina Owen on Ruby Rogues. The hero is an adult autistic in the near future who is working at a pharmaceutical company doing applied mathematics.

Most of the book is narrated in first person with shivering accuracy I might say. I never knew about Elizabeth Moon so midway I looked her up; she is a mother of an autistic. And the efforts to understand her son show. A true advocate for autistics, adult or not. And great parenting advice.

I really cannot write much about the book without giving away the plot, but it is all there: autistic education, effort to fit in, bullying, sportsmanship, search for love, search for meaning, tough choices. A really fascinating book and a touching story. And lots of music. With detail. And I keep thinking that I started the book while I paused Birth of a Theorem at a chapter full of music in order to reread it.

Speed of Dark will affect you regardless of whether you know of autistic people or not. It is one of those books that make you a better person.