re: IEEE Annual Election – Important Message for Region 8 Members

From the IEEE Region 8 Director’s mail to members:

Less than 15% of the IEEE members with voting rights have voted so far – worldwide!

Region 8 (Europe, Africa, Middle East) has almost 60000 voting members. In recent past, even Presidents have been elected with fewer than 20000 votes, and some Directors with significantly less. Also, some officers have been elected with a very small vote difference. Therefore, your vote is very important!

Dear Director, do not ask me to vote. Find out why I am not voting, even though I am a member and eliminate the problem. Dear candidate, this is your challenge too: Increase the number of voters (and their level of engagement) during your stay in office. 

Athens Indymedia shut down

Το Indymedia έκλεισε. Πήρε περισσότερο χρόνο από όσο πίστευα το 2009:

Τολμώ να ρισκάρω μια πρόβλεψη: Τελικά σε λιγότερο από χρόνο το athens.indymedia.org θα “βγει” εκτός ΕΜΠ. Και αυτό δεν θα είναι προς όφελος αυτών που θέλουν να το βγάλουν.

Τώρα μένει να παρακολουθήσουμε τη συνέχεια και το νόμο των αθέλητων συνεπειών. Διότι είμαι βέβαιος πως ο συγκεκριμένος χώρος θα ξαναοργανώσει μέσο διάδοσης των ιδεών και της πληροφορίας που τον αφορά. Απλά θα είναι πιο δύσκολο για το Κράτος να τον παρακολουθεί και να ασκεί τέτοιες μεθόδους ελέγχου. Μα τόσο groupthink πια;

→ Αρνείται η Αστυνομία ότι κατέβασε το site

Θα περίμενε κανείς μετά από τόσα χρόνια να είμαι πιο προσεκτικός στην ανάγνωση ειδήσεων και να εφαρμόζω καλύτερα τον κανόνα:

Never attribute to malice what can be attributed to stupidity.

Η καχυποψία μετατρέπεται εύκολα σε βεβαίοτητα και το fact checking πάει περίπατο. Ούτε δημοσίευμα του οπαδικού τύπου να ήταν. Ας μου γίνει μάθημα για την επόμενη φορά. Το να προκαλεί τέτοια αναταραχή ένας αρουραίος, είναι unintended consequence. Όλοι την πατάμε κάποια στιγμή.

Update 2013/04/12: Less than a year passed and it is really down.

“Καλύτερα να είχαμε γίνει Αργεντινή”

Sebastián Leto, παίκτης του Παναθηναϊκού, για την κρίση στην Αργεντινή:

“Την βίωσα την κρίση, αλλά ως παιδί. Αυτοί που ένιωσαν την κρίση στο πετσί τους ήταν οι γονείς μου. Πολύ επώδυνη περίοδος. Ο πατέρας μου έμεινε απλήρωτος για έναν ολόκληρο χρόνο από την δουλειά του. Φανταστείτε τι συνέπειες είχε αυτό για την ζωή της οικογένειας, που ήταν απολύτως εξαρτημένη από τον μισθό του. Εκατομμύρια συμπολίτες μου βίωσαν παρόμοιες καταστάσεις. Δεν είχαν χρήματα για να καλύψουν ούτε τις πιο βασικές ανάγκες του ανθρώπου, το φαγητό και την ένδυση. Η αλήθεια είναι ότι η κρίση στην Ελλάδα δεν με αγγίζει άμεσα. Δεν την αντιλαμβάνομαι καθημερινά, ίσως γιατί αποφεύγω το κέντρο της πόλης, όπου τα προβλήματα συσσωρεύονται. Ξέρω βέβαια τι συμβαίνει. Αλλά για να είμαι ειλικρινής δεν την βιώνω.”

Απόσπασμα από συνέντευξη στο “Κ” της Καθημερινής, όπως αναδημοσιεύτηκε εδώ στις 2011/12/27.

(In-Reply-To:)

Update: Ο @kargig με εγκαλεί για επιλεκτική αναφορά στην φράση του κ. Τσίπρα. Ας την παραθέσω ολόκληρη:

“Μακάρι να είχαμε γίνει Αργεντινή όπως είχατε πει γιατί πέρασαν δυσκολίες αλλά τα κατάφεραν με αξιοπρέπεια να σταθούν στα πόδια τους αλλά εσείς μας οδηγείτε σε πολύ χειρότερες καταστάσεις θα είμαστε υποτελείς.”

Ακόμα χειρότερα μου αποδίδει πολιτικά κίνητρα. Κρίμα. Είναι μάλλον που για την αξιοπρέπεια έχω διαφορετικό ορισμό από αυτόν που δίνουν οι κάθε λογής Ελληνικοί Πολιτικοί Σχηματισμοί. Οι οποίοι μέσα στο newspeak τους απλά έχουν, μηδενός εξαιρουμένου, συμπεριφορά Inner Party.

Update #2: The six peso diet.

The sysadmin oxymoron

/* This has been gathering dust for quite some time now */

“The cost of communication waste” made me think of the standard oxymoron in our line of business:

“We are forced to kill our children to make our point” says a fellow sysadmin. This is the case where, although the system administrator has recommended an update, upgrade, improvement etc. this is denied thus forcing the system to degrade slowly (or fast sometimes) no matter the effort put against decay by the administrator. Who will finally be forced to let the system die proving the point along the way. But this is no victory. System Adminitrators derive no joy by being right when disaster strikes; they want to have resources for their systems not to fail or at least abandon them properly.

As system administrators we build systems that are supposed to support certain operations for our employer. We build stuff, automate processes and generally walk a path, that the untrained eye thinks it leads to eliminating the necessity of our services. In essence we build our own obsolescence. When things do not work, users (sometimes rightly) believe that we do a lousy work. On the other hand when we sit idle in our offices, we are not needed and may sometimes even be considered a burden, a cost center. Why would one pay a system administrator, if he seems idle all the time? The contradiction is clear: When the systems do not work, it is because we do a lousy job. When the systems work, our services are supposedly not needed.

Fat behaviors rule the IT workplace (IT Gestapo, toxic meetings, pointless report generation) and BOFHs are equally guilty of this. This is the balance we have to keep up with daily, but when running systems with a lot of responsibility but without authority, we have to find ways to make management not only listen, but also act. Because management takes a bet: Things won’t break while they are in office. Since we have to either leave or live with that, we either take the same bet or we make damn sure that our technical points are permanently recorded.

Lean vs Fat behaviours and the Public Sector

“Lean behaviors” is a fantastic paper written by Bob Emiliani. If I was to use a highlight marker, I could easily paint the whole paper.

“[an organization] must possess an ability to change how it thinks, which requires a culture characterized by trust, shared responsibility and openness to experimentation without fear of failure“.

“Lean behaviors are defined simply as behaviors that add or create value. It is the minimization of waste associated with arbitrary or contradictory thoughts that leads to defensive behavior; ineffective relationships, poor co-operation, and negative attitudes. […] [“fat” behaviors] include the display of irrational and confusing information that results in delays or work stoppages, or the articulation of unsubstantiable subjective thoughts and opinions. Fat behaviors are recognizable as lots of talk where nothing has actually been said, or indirect words whose meanings are subject to variable interpretations”.

What an accurate description of the Public Sector!

[The cost of communication waste]

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

At my good friend’s S.B. suggestion I read “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time“. Although I am biased, this is easily one of the best books I have ever read. The main character of the book is a teenager on the autistic spectrum, who upon discovering a neighbor’s dead dog, makes it his mission to find out who killed the dog. This proves to be an adventure far more complicated than he expected and the hero is forced to deal with situations he is not accustomed to.

On the surface people may find this book entertaining, reading the narrative from the point of view of the hero and how he reacts to different stimuli (and how and why his reactions are different than what “normal” people would do). But this is not a teenage autistic version of Sheldon Cooper. This is not fun. This is not cool even though Christopher (the hero) can understand the Monty Hall problem or Conway’s Soldiers better and faster than you. This is the life of a high functioning autistic and it takes its toll on him and his supporting environment. And it shows how totally unprepared (and prejudiced) “normal” people are when needed to deal with people with slightly different wiring in the brain. It is also a story of trust, how easily it can be broken and how hard it is to build it up again.

You will enjoy the chapter numbering though.

If you have friends (or extended family) living in the problem, read the book. It will help you understand their situation. The book has been translated in Greek as “Ποιος σκότωσε το σκύλο τα μεσάνυχτα;” and it will take you a couple of days to read it. I read the English ePub version. For a shorter version in understanding what goes on in an autistic mind you may read “Ο Αυτός“.