Mark and new acquaintances

Last summer, my friend Mark decided to haul off to the last Star Trek convention that James (Scotty) Doohan participated in. This shows what you can get with the expensive seats. Turns out he was sitting right behind the gentleman in glasses – Neal Armstrong. This was all the more special because Mr. Armstrong never usually attends public functions; he was there because, as he said, the character of Mr. Scott as the Enterprise’s chief engineer was a strong influence on his career direction. Thank goodness for that!

And there are a couple of other faces you may have seen somewhere before.

- Sean

P.S. – If you don’t know who Neal Armstrong is, I’ll be happy to tell you privately after picking myself up off the floor in amazement…

Hitchhikers and more

Yesterday was a pleasant serendipity, or synchronicity, or whatever -icity you choose. After the wishes of many people for many years, The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy movie was premiered in the U.S. I've tried to stay away from the reviews, but the general impression I get is that if you're a Hitchhiker's fan (as I am), you'll probably like it. If you're not, however, you'll wonder what the hell it's all about.

Which I suppose you could say about anyone that listened to the series in its original, radio (yes radio was the first and IMHO the best), incarnation.

But you can't have serendipity, or synchronicity, or whatever -icity you choose, without something else happening. Yesterday also I received some Royal Mail. (What a grand title.) My order from England came in. Rod Lord, the graphic artist who created the terrific graphics for the BBC television series of the same name, sells prints of the originals on his website. The TV series was done before computer graphics really came into popular use, so the BBC engaged Rod to draw these computer-graphicslike pieces on lithographic film somewhat like animation cels. They were then shown in rapid sequence to appear like a computer display. (Rod has a detailed explanation, full of graphics artist-ese, on the "background info" button on his website.) The graphics really were one of the lasting impressions one brings away from the television series.

And we now have Babel.04 and Babel.05 in my posession, waiting to be framed.

Now we just have to go see the movie.

San Francisco

I'm in San Francisco this week to speak at the spring Windows Connections conference, and as usual it's been a nice time. I've been doing this conference for a number of years now, and I regard my fellow presenters also as my friends. Since I work out of my house, I don't go out with my co-workers; they're spread out all over the world. I seem to do a good job making up for it at these conferences because I end up doing happy hour every night with my friends.

I flew into town on Sunday afternoon, after an hour delay due to a mechanical problem. It didn't bother me at all, because I was having a great conversation with my seatmate. I never usually talk to my seatmates, but we happened to hit it off right away. She's Laura Werlin, a cookbook writer and expert on American artisanal cheeses. We had a great conversation, and she ended up giving me a ride to the hotel from the airport and signed one of her books for me. It's the people you meet when traveling that make it interesting.

My first talk on AD security seemed to go pretty well, though I'm not as comfortable with it as I am other areas. Today I'm giving one on Windows 2003 command line tools, tonight there's some kind of cruise on the bay, and tomorrow morning I'm giving a talk on ADPREP for Windows 2003.

The weather's been great here, so I've been trying to get out whenever I can...and there's a Peet's coffeehouse across the street right on the bay. What more can you ask for?

NASA's World Wind

This program, written by NASA, is one of the coolest web-integrated programs I’ve ever seen. You start with a globe of the earth (with REAL data, not simulated), and can zoom in anywhere on the planet to an amazing degree of detail. I almost got vertigo (certainly got goose bumps) when I zoomed with the mouse wheel the first time! In seconds, using the USGS digital ortho map, I’d zoomed in to look at the Glen Canyon dam in Utah.

It’s a must-have if you’re at all geographically curious. However, it takes a lot of horsepower on your PC and a high-speed connection. Highly recommended.


http://worldwind.arc.nasa.gov/
World Wind lets you zoom from satellite altitude into any place on Earth. Leveraging Landsat satellite imagery and Shuttle Radar Topography Mission data, World Wind lets you experience Earth terrain in visually rich 3D, just as if you were really there.Virtually visit any place in the world. Look across the Andes, into the Grand Canyon, over the Alps, or along the African Sahara.

Wednesday at the CWA

This was an up-and-out-the-door morning. With no more than 4 ½ hours of sleep, I walked the mile to meet Paula at the bus stop by 8:10. Good thing it was a nice morning. When I got in late last night (about 2:30) , I realized I had a 9 AM session. Not only that, it was with Bill Clifford, associate director of the MIT Sloan Fellows Program. The Sloan Fellows is a mid-career program for overachievers like Robbie Allen, AD guru and my editor for the new book I'm beginning work on. The subject was on Wikipedia, a new open-edited encyclopedia. Also on this all-star panel was Martha Baer, a former Wired magazine founding editor, and Craig Newmark, the founder of craigslist.org. This website has become internationally famous as a clearinghouse for all sorts of local information in a number of cities. No pressure for me!

But, as I’ve experienced in all these sessions so far, everything worked out fine and we had a nice chat. It turns out Bill is a really nice, gregarious fellow with a common interest in jazz so we hit it off right from the start. I didn’t really talk to Martha too much at first, and Craig is a fairly reticent fellow. But judging from how the week was going I had 20 hours x 3 more days to get to know them :). And that is how it worked out.

I went to a session called “The State of Jazz” that was very interesting. Each of the panelists – members of the week’s band, including Dave Grusin – had something very individual and personal to day. Kevyn Lettau talked about being so upset over the state of commercial jazz today. Her husband Mike discussed the financial aspects of playing overseas versus in the states (it’s much more lucrative overseas). Dave Grusin had a memorable quote. He said, “There’s only one reason to be a jazz musician, and that’s because you can’t help it.” Finally, saxophonist Nelson Rangell bared his soul about being pulled to the Dark Side – smooth jazz – by the financial benefits but was searing about the artistic sacrifices that accompanied it.

After lunch, I did a session with Ellen McGirt, Bill Clifford again, and Peter Dykstra (executive producer for CNN Science & Technology) on The Future Of Work. It was held in a meeting room above a local coffee shop, and we filled the place with probably 35 or 40 people. Plus we got good coffee out of the deal :). It was another fun session. Our moderator was a Boulder city councilperson, and on the way back to the conference headquarters we talked about the expense of moving to Boulder.

When we got back to the museum headquarters, Ellen introduced me to Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Richard Aregood who told me a great knock-knock joke:

Knock knock.
Who’s there?
Knock knock.
Who’s there?
Knock
knock.
Who’s there??
Philip Glass.
(okay, you have to be a
musician to appreciate it best.)

Wednesday was a free evening, and the Kassoys were tied up so I was at loose ends. Paula and I strolled the Pearl Street Mall where I bought (and promptly forgot) an origami dragon I got for Sharon, caught dinner at a nice restaurant, then went to hear the band play again, this time at The Reef. They played lots of bop so it was a great time for me. The bar - which is normally probably deserted on a Wednesday night - was pretty well filled with Conference groupies there to hear the band. The evening shut down at midnight, which was well needed because I was definitely running out of sleep...

Tuesday at the conference

As I said, I'm catching up on the conference information as best I can.

Tuesday morning, I went to a packed session featuring Molly Ivins. It was entertaining, but I couldn't stick around for the questions because I had a session coming up but I wasn't prepared for. The title of the session was "Thrills, Chills, and Spills: America's need for adventure". Somehow or other, I had to work my martial arts expertise into the session because that was my major knowledge of thrills and chills and spills. For an intro I was able to proudly say I was going on a six-day rafting trip down the green in Colorado rivers the summer. With me on the panel were Yoshi Funaki, Jurek Martin, and former Sports Illustrated writer Bill Nack, who told a great story about an informal ride on a racehorse.

One of the things I've discovered about myself from the sessions is that I'm a pretty good extemporaneous speaker. We're all supposed to present 10 minutes worth of opening remarks, and for almost half of the sessions, I found myself preparing my remarks less than 10 minutes before the session was to begin. Nonetheless, they seem to have all worked out okay; I guess I work fairly well under pressure.

In the afternoon, I was on the panel cold "Technology Meltdown - Lost Without My Instant Access". With me on the panel were Andy and Will Arntz, former physicist, software entrepreneur, and producer of the new film "What the bleep do we know?". I used my SPOT watch as an example of the current Dick Tracy level of instant access, while Andy trotted out his variety of personal gadgets to do the same. The general consensus is that I would do just fine without technology for a little while - I plan to bring almost nothing along with me on the rafting trip beyond a sports watch, which I'll keep in the bag - while Andy would shrivel up and blow away. I thought it was an interesting session, though we had relatively few attendees. The technology track is new for this conference so I think it will take a few years to build up an audience for it; I think most technorati look right by it right now.

Dinner was in the new club level at Folsom Stadium. This was a large, very nicely appointed room with floor to ceiling windows looking out over the stadium and the Flatiron beyond. I understand it was very controversial when it was being planned and constructed; from my point of view, all I know is that it was a nice place. Both the Kassoys and Paula were able to attend the dinner with me.

Right after dinner, we all trooped across campus to Mackey Auditorium for the annual CWA All Stars jazz concert. This year’s musicians were organized by Nelson Rangell (saxes, flute, piccolo…and whistling), Brad Goode (trumpet), Bijoux Barbosa (bass), Mike Shapiro (drums), Kevyn Lettau (vocals), Dave Grusin (piano), Mike Flowers (Hammond B3 and synthesizers), and Chuck Loeb (guitar). Special guests were Rony and Elie Barak from Lebanon. Rony is apparently a regular participant, but I think it was Elie’s first time.

It was a great concert. It was an outstanding concert if you take into account that most had never met one another and they’d had exactly one rehearsal. They were tight and communicated well; it was interesting to observe because they really had to watch and signal to each other, so we got to see the inner workings of a jazz ensemble a little more. All of them were superb individual soloists, and played a complicated bop tune as though they’d been playing for years.

After the concert, the band and CWA folks who were up for it went over to a bar called Redfish to listen to a jam session at till 2 AM. The three-piece playing there was very good, but it was exciting to watch the interaction as one by one the different All Stars began sitting in until the whole band was back in place in a much smaller venue. One vignette I remember was Rony Barak soloing with the three-piece on his darbouka, the Middle Eastern equivalent of the Indian tabla hand drum. He was so virtuosic the pianist, who didn’t know him, exclaimed, “Oh my god!” in the middle of his solo. The jam was so good it was energizing; I walked out more awake at 2 AM than when I’d gone in at 11.

And when I got back to my room at almost 3, I realized I had a 9 AM session...

A missed career

I'm attempting to finish up my comments on last week's conference before it all blurs together - a losing proposition, I know, but I'm an optimist...and I have notes. Taxes first!

I was listening to The Diane Rehm Show on NPR this morning and Steve Roberts has a panel on the future of radio. A comment came up on the increasingly private experience of music with personal MP3 players and podcasts, and I had to grin. I pontificated on that exact phenomenon - the progression of listen to music from its origins as a very public experience with limited program content to a very private experience with huge variety of content - at the Conference last week. And people were listening (or at least being polite). I almost felt like a pundit.

Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah...

Sean with tunfas
Posted by Hello

Conference On World Affairs, Monday

I had an unusual commute to work today. I left the Kassoys, headed uphill to the top of the street, and took a footpath along the “blue line” toward Paula’s house to meet. The blue line is the highest elevation along the Flatirons that the city provides services to; everything above it is wide open. There's a hiking path that follows the back fences of the topmost houses. I noticed that they're pretty sturdy fences, which seems unusual because the Boulder hikers don't strike me as the rampaging, vandalizing sort. I was thinking about my upcoming first presentation and what I was going to say, so I wasn't paying attention to details. When I did focus on what I was walking on, I realized that alongside the expected boot marks were mountain lion nearly the size of my hand! I suppose the fence is more designed to keep pets in and pests of the four-legged type, rather than the two-legged type, out.

When I got there Paula wasn’t at surprised to hear about it, and pointed to a pile of bear scat almost directly underneath her deck!

We took a bus into campus. In Boulder, it seems, even the bus routes are athletic. There’s a “hop”, “skip”, and “jump”; there’s probably even a “samba” but I haven’t seen it yet.

It was a bright sunny morning, and breakfast for CWA participants was held on the quad in the center of campus. Our breakfast burritos from Illegal Pete’s were accompanied by a student string trio playing chamber music. The conference had a student volunteer there to fend off the students that smelled the possibility of a free brunch, and Paula and I had breakfast at a table shared with Molly Ivins.

The CWA headquarters is in a museum, so it’s an unusual juxtaposition of hubbub among ancient fossils. The Triceratops skull was popular, probably because it had decent light for us computer users. This is where participants meet their session moderator, the producer and often each other before the meeting. If they’re very organized, they may even discuss what each participant is going to talk about. Usually, however, each panelist takes a few minutes before the session to compose their thoughts for their 10-minute opening remarks. Despite the calm the audience sees of the panelist, from my perspective it’s not as simple as that. Many of our hands shook while speaking, betraying the presence of inner butterflies.

The opening plenary session in the auditorium was interesting, not least of which because I ended up sitting next to Molly Ivins, syndicated columnist and high profile liberal. I introduced myself as a fellow blue Texan, besieged in a red state. The conservative speech, given by Charles Krauthammer, definitely kept people's attention, and I noticed Molly furiously making notes in the margins of a book. I had to leave early to prepare for my session, so I never had a chance to hear any of the interplay between Charles and the audience.

I survived my “future of music” session successfully. Due to a little last minute juggling, I ended up being the first on my panel. I hadn’t seen any panels yet, so it was truly a blind beginning. Nonetheless, no one threw any cabbage so I guess either I did okay or the Boulder audience was especially polite. Dave Grusin was thoughtful, softspoken, and honest (which, I learned during the week, is how he always is). Seth Shostak, an astronomer at the SETI Institute and science writer, was simultaneously witty and scientific. And Kevyn, the public performer out of her natural element, in front of her first CWA audience spoke straight from her heart.

I had to add a third vector to the participants and organizers I spoke about yesterday: the moderators. Another accomplished bunch of people, the moderator of this session turned out to be Dan Sher, Dean of the College of Music and Mike and Kevyn's host).

Later in the afternoon I attended a session on “Evolution vs. Creation Science”. Though a messy session in many ways – for example, no creationists on the panel – it did reveal one interesting fact. Roger Ebert, one of the panelists, is a lot more than just a film critic. He’s extremely well read, eloquent, and an experienced and compelling public speaker. His 10-minute (okay, more like 20) exposition of what evolution is, and what creationism is, was worth the price of attendance.

Well of course…it was free.

The evening's social function was at the Koenig alumni center. Of the approximately 110 panelists, 50 were new so introductions continued from the previous evening. I introduced myself to Andy Ihnatko, tech columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times and professional übergeek, since I was going to be on several panels with him. The week became a series of vignettes, usually prefaced by something like "So what do you do that has the CWA interested in you?" or as I grew tired later in the week, "What's your schtick?" That's how I met Mark Magniere, Beijing correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, former Iraq war correspondent, and all-around world traveler in the line for the bathroom :).

Sunday at the Conference On World Affairs

I finally have an excuse to create a personal blog. I’m going to start it by writing about my experiences here in Boulder attending the 57th annual Conference of World Affairs (www.colorado.edu/cwa). It’s sponsored by the University of Colorado at Boulder, and essentially it’s idea is to get 100 or so interesting people together for a week, talk about all kinds of things based on a one sentence idea, then mingle with each other every evening to see what connections arise from this stew. There are a large number of sessions across a wide range of topics. The panelists don’t even necessarily know a lot about the subject, but hey you’re stuck up there, so you might as well take a swing at it!

I got involved in it because my friend Paula Sharick is responsible for the technology track of the science committee and thought I was diversified to interest the conference. Apparently I was, because here I am. Whether I'm interesting enough to be invited back remains to be seen.

I’m staying at a host’s house, which means I’m a houseguest to Caryl and David Kassoy. David is a theoretical mathematician, and Caryl is a musician and "professional volunteer" (David's words, not mine). It’s weird housing with someone I basically just shook hands with, but they’re comfortable with it. I have a nice downstairs bedroom with a very nice bath and tub (it even has a view) all to myself. The house, nestled up near the end of housing and the beginning of the Flatirons, is a bi-level all kind of corkscrewed on itself, so it’s quite cool. They have large windows looking across the street towards a mesa, and you can see Boulder reservoir in the distance. Much like Paula, they moved here a long time ago – no later than 1970 – and have kept it ever since.

The CWA people are interesting, from both ends. The participants are all here because they’re special in one way or another. The common question among participants has become, “So why do you think they picked you?” I think one answer is well roundedness (is that a word?). The CWA organizers are almost as interesting. They’re very successful people at the university and in the community.

Tonight’s “get to know each other” party was I think a taste of what the week will be. It was held at the University of Colorado President’s residence, and I was greeted at the door by a regent of the university. At the outdoor party, one of the first couples I met were also first-timers, so we had a nice conversation. A moment later, an accounting professor walks up to the husband and says, “I have a friend who interviewed with you at the Wharton School”. He replies, “Oh, I’ve interviewed many people for the Wharton School.” It turns out that his name is Ron Frank, and among his many other achievements he was the director of research and PhD program at the Wharton School of Business – arguably the most prestigious business school in the country. I discovered that this pattern would be repeated over and over again throughout the week.

Reeling slightly from this, I collected some dinner and sat down next to some folks in a corner. The organizers are great at drawing attendees out of their shell, and so I was quickly introduced to an attendee next to me. Kevyn Lettau is a jazz singer, a first time attendee, and as it happened she was the other new panelist on my first panel. As two newbies thrown into the deep end, we hit it off immediately as we tried to figure out what the hell we were going to say on a panel entitled “The Future Of Music” with Dave Grusin. I soon met her husband, Mike Shapiro, who proved over the course of the week to be a fabulous drummer and a really warm fellow.

This was the first 30 minutes of the first party before five days of conference. I had a suspicion it was going to prove to be quite a week!