We received an email from Steve Ballmer yesterday morning saying the other shoe was dropping. I’m fine and everyone I checked with is fine but I still need to check in with a few more.
Category Archives: Work
We Get it, Already
This is an open letter to all the talk show hosts, pundits, party hacks, cheaters, scumbags, sick twisted freaks (you know who you are) and pro-freedom bloggers. We could spend the rest of our lives cataloging the outrageous behavior of nasty, America-hating, ignorant, self-loathing, cultist, freedom-hating, anti-human, leftist politicians including Progressive Republicans. We know they’re bad, OK? If there are three or four people who still don’t get it, that’s all right.
I’d rather try to figure out how we’re going to get some principled Americans nominated so we’re not always forced to choose between bad and worse– between more socialism slower, and more socialism faster. This last national election was a real puker. The Republican Party is, at the moment, just as lost, dumbfounded, selfish and clueless as ever. They’re a herd of does, staring blankly into the headlights of an on-coming truck, and the worst part of it is; they don’t even suspect that they’re clueless. They in the Republican leadership think they have some really clever answers, which amount to more of what got us into this mess. I recently heard it described as rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. That fits very well. The Republicans have some really super great, super ultra smart ideas for rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. No really, listen… (all the while we have this simple, proven model for success, and it’s being ignored.)
We need to change that. You need to change it. I need to change it. There isn’t anyone else. I suppose, since it’s up to us, it will have to be on the local level for most of us, being as we’re not billionaires. That’s OK. We can still do what we can do. A lot of people are jazzed up right now. They just need somewhere to start. Well, pick a place, a local issue or a local politician that needs a hand (or a very public spanking) and get to it!
That there are clueless people is not the issue. There will always be the clueless. They’ll sit on the sidelines, worrying about who likes them and who doesn’t, trying to figure out where the “center” is so they can position themselves in it and claim superiority for having done so, while someone else does the lifting. Are you a sitter or a lifter?
I have a bad feeling that things could come to blows before this government is brought under control, and I really don’t want that to happen. Do you? This country is far too important in the grand scheme of things.
And with that; I don’t have much more to say on here, other than to repeat myself or talk about the weather and what I did last weekend, unless it’s to tell you what I’m doing on the local level to influence politics. Now I think I have some calls to make.
(Note that I placed this in nearly every one of Joe’s categories. It’s relevant to everything we do and every opportunity we want for our kids in the future)
Quote of the day–Aravind Seshadri
You know how to get a solution? First you create a problem.
Aravind Seshadri
April 15, 2009
[One of my favorite things about working at Microsoft is that I am surrounded by smart people–very smart people. Also knowing that some of the software I write will be used by, literally, a BILLION people is really, really cool. That and being part of the Borg means we get to rule the galaxy.
So, yesterday Aravind, Hiep, and I were discussing our plans for domination of the galaxy when Aravind told us the above. I burst out into laughter as my mind went flying into all the different directions implied by those two sentences. Here is a sample:
- Before you can solve a problem you have to define (create) it. Once it is accurately defined you can much more easily solve it.
- Most businesses sell “solutions”. The grocery store sells you a solution to your hunger problem, the electric company sells you a solution to your energy problem, etc. Before you can sell anything new you have to create a problem. Before there were telephones did the people know they had a communication problem? Before there were cars did the people know there was a transportation problem? Before there were diamond engagement rings did people know there was token of commitment problem? We create problems in people’s minds so they will buy our solutions. This applies to (perhaps especially in) politics, and personal relationships, as well as the business world.
- If you have a problem in “Area A” you may be able to solve it by creating a problem in “Area B”. For example, a scumbag is causing you discomfort by threating you with a knife and you want a solution to your discomfort. You create a fluid retention problem for him by inserting multiple jacketed hollow points into his thoracic cavity. You now have your solution.
- And my favorite, “There is no problem the proper application of high explosives can’t solve.”
-Joe]
Quote of the day–hunter006
Breaking shit sounds easy, but it’s not. It’s actually pretty hard. The reason being because there are people just as smart as me, if not smarter, designing this specifically so it doesn’t break.
hunter006
March 27, 2009
My job as a SDET
[hunter006 is a co-worker of mine. We are, in a sense, on opposite teams. It’s an interesting relationship. I give the other team full access to every detail of the design and implementation. All the documents, all the source code, all the threat models then at any time completely and honestly answer any questions they might have about the system including things like, “Where do you think the greatest weakness are?” And “How would you go about breaking this?” Any success they have means more work and possibly poor performance reviews for me.
On the other hand, if I do my job right they will work their butts off, not find anything worse than typos in the documentation, and have their boss constantly screaming at them because they haven’t found any bugs. If they haven’t found any bugs then they aren’t doing their job, right?
Large bug counts, if found by you, are good on performance reviews. Large numbers of bugs assigned to you are bad. Currently I have one bug assigned to me. It’s about a year old and I’m pretty sure someone else fixed it a long time ago when they were working on something related. I just haven’t gotten around to verifying and closing it out or assigning it to him. Son James recently told me in his group the average is about 70 bugs assigned to each developer. He has about half that.
I just got new tester assigned to my portion of my current project. She’s a sweet young thing and I had a meeting with her earlier this week to explain the design and suggest ways to test it. I didn’t show her the proof I have been writing software since before she was born. I’ll save that for later when she is putting in long hours and still not finding enough bugs to keep her boss off her back.–Joe]
Do you know what this is?
Last month at Tam’s place people were commenting things we had which were old. It was sort of “back when I was a young’n…” story telling time.
I visited my parents last Saturday and picked up my contribution to the discussion:
I brought it in to work today and asked my office mate if she knew what it was.
Her eyes got big and she said, “Oh my! Is this a punched card? I have never seen one of these before!”
I told her that it was more than that. “This”, I told her, “Is proof I was writing software before you were born.”
I took Engr 131 fall semester 1973 at the University of Idaho. Punched cards is a tough way to program a computer. There is no back space or delete and retype. There is no “white out”. If you make a mistake on a card you get to type a new one (there were rare exceptions but that is beyond the scope of this discussion).
We would leave our card deck on a table in the hall and come back three DAYS later to read the print-out result of the submission to the IBM 360. Usually it was something like ten pages of paper that boiled down to something like “Syntax error on card five, column 17.” Or “Program error. Core dump follows.”
The next year using a line editor on a teletype that looked like an IBM Selectric typewriter with a box of paper in back was such a thrill. You could get the compile and run results in a minute or two instead of days. And “editing” was just AWESOME compared to punching cards.
In the early 80’s I started programming on a CRT. It was still a line editor but listing lines 120-140 only took a couple of silent seconds instead of 30 seconds of clattering with the teletype. I started hearing rumors of something called a “visual editor” about the time son James was born in ’84. I couldn’t imagine what the fuss was about. “Visual editor?” What is that about? How much better than Edline could an editor be? I didn’t bother to check it out for several months.
Even then I would tell people about programming the microprocessor system I had build on a plug-board. I had typed in hand assembled hex codes into a PROM programmer. Then I plugging the PROM into a socket and powered up the system trying to debug it from the deciphering the way the LEDs blinked. Now that was a tough way to program.
I had a dream
I woke up early this morning after having a dream.
Today is the day I may get a chance to ask Senator Leahy a question or two. In my dream I asked my question, didn’t like his response, and my follow-up question was a bit hostile. As I was leaving the confernce center a couple of men in suits tried to stop me. They were unsuccessful. Things for me went downhill from there.
I must avoid being hostile. I think I can say nearly the same words with a smile and a friendly voice and everyone will have a much happier day.
Update: I have written down the exact words I want to use.
A few days ago at Georgetown University you suggested creating a “Truth Commission” to investigate constitutional excesses of the previous administration. Do you still think that is a good idea and do you think such a commission should also investigate the excesses of congress and the current administration in regards to violations of the Ninth and Tenth Amendments in the Bill of Rights who have exceeded the powers enumerated in the constitution?
Follow up questions may involve Just One Question and/or reference to 18 USC 242.
Questions for Senator Patrick Leahy?
Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) will be visiting my work next week to speak and it’s possible I might get a chance to ask him some questions. If I do get such a chance what questions/comments would be appropriate?
Background data on Leahy to help evaluate this opportunity:
- Leahy is the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and is a senior member of the Agriculture and Appropriations Committees. He ranks seventh in seniority in the Senate.
- Patrick Leahy was elected to the United States Senate in 1974 and remains the only Democrat elected to this office from Vermont. At 34, he was the youngest U.S. Senator ever to be elected from the Green Mountain State. Leahy was born in Montpelier and grew up across from the Statehouse. A graduate of Saint Michael’s College in Colchester (1961), he received his Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center (1964). He served for eight years as State’s Attorney in Chittenden County. He gained a national reputation for his law enforcement activities and was selected (1974) as one of three outstanding prosecutors in the United States
- As a leading member of the Appropriations Committee, Leahy is the Chairman of the Committee’s Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations and also sits on its Defense, Interior, Commerce-Justice-Science, Transportation-Treasury-Judiciary-Housing and Urban Development, and Homeland Security subcommittees.
- Active on human rights issues, Leahy also has been the leading U.S. officeholder in the international campaign against the production, export and use of anti-personnel landmines. In 1992 Leahy wrote the first law by any government to ban the export of these weapons. He led efforts in Congress to aid mine victims by creating a special fund in the foreign aid budget, and the Leahy War Victims Fund now provides up to $14 million of relief to these victims each year. He was instrumental in establishing programs to support humanitarian demining and played a key role in pushing for an international treaty banning anti-personnel mines. He also wrote and enacted civilian war victims relief programs that are underway in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Internet Exploror 8 is available
Yeah, it’s old news. But I’m liking it on my computer at work so I’m about to install it at home. Get it here.
Terminator talk
At a meeting this morning we were discussing a possible name for a new product. It was suggested that since we already have SkyDrive and SkyMarket (with rumors of SkyLine and SkyBox), maybe we should name the project SkyNet. The consensus was there were probably names less threatening to the warm and fuzzies.
I’m fine
Microsoft announced layoffs this morning. I haven’t been into work yet but my email account still works and from reading email from upper management my division is one of the areas that will continue to receive “strong support”.
Communication Skills, Part Two – We get Mail
Notice anything wrong with this message?
I recently purchased a mini-14 scout mount and the rear U – shaped mounting bracket which secures the mount to the barrel seems to have the threads on one side either cut crooked or damaged. Is it possible to get another bracket and screws?
Thank you,
Neil
Neil (last name)
(e-mail address at Earthlink dot com)
No address. No phone number, and an Earthlink mail domain. He wants me to send him a part, but doesn’t give me his address. This happens a lot. I find his original transaction (assuming there’s only one Neil with that last name in the country) and get the address, but I don’t know if it’s current. I then reply to the e-mail so I can get him to verify the address, but as with all Earthlink users, my reply e-mail is rejected because I’m not on his white list. I have a phone number on the original transaction, and try that. No answer. I left a voice message with someone who has the correct name. We’ll have to wait and see what happens. All this for a five dollar set of parts.
Teach your children; when asking someone for something, you might want to include some usable contact information. Just sayin’.
Breaking news–Incident at Microsoft building 118
I walked across the street to the cafeteria in building 117 and noticed there was a fire alarm going off in building 118 and lots of people were standing around. Microsoft security was parked outside and I thought it might be a fire drill. It was a little odd because usually they do those in the morning.
When I came back with food in hand there were three firetrucks and a “Battalion Chief” SUV parked outside. Then I saw the water shooting out from the front door. A sprinkler?
Something unusually is definitely going on but there isn’t any smoke and I didn’t see hoses going inside the building so it probably isn’t too serious.
Notice the water shooting out from above the door?
“Papers please” no longer needed
If you have a cell phone and it is turned on your cell phone company knows where it is within a few hundred yards. If the government wants this data from the provider it generally (emergency exemptions apparently exist) has to get a court order.
However, the FBI has the technology to trigger phones into giving up their serial numbers and their phone numbers. This does not require a court order! Currently they use a van to drive around town and try to find their target. But that doesn’t have to be the way they always do it. All they have to do is put this technology on major travel routes and in travel hubs and they can do a pretty good job of tracking a large proportion of the population. If they put up their own devices on most of cell towers around the country they can track every active cell phone in the country.
I write software for mobile phones for Microsoft and it is rare that a day goes by where we don’t talk about and implement privacy protections for the customer and now I find out the Federal Government is actively working to defeat us.
It was Ry’s fault
He says he is sorry about bringing down Microsoft.com today. He didn’t even have to use any Boomershoot technology.
As people say, his brain is a very powerful CPU but it’s running a buggy operating system.
Pure Microsoft
Last evening as I was leaving work I saw this. Sorry for the low picture quality. It was taken with my cell phone.
Today, all day, was the company meeting. In a lot of ways, especially when Steve Ballmer is on stage (or running through the crowd), it’s like a prep rally from high school. The following are my Twitter comments while watching the meeting. If you view them on the web they don’t have the proper time stamp because the cell phone connectivity (and my Internet connection on my Pocket PC) at Safeco Field was very intermittent (overloaded with all the geeks with mobile devices). Most of the Twitter updates had to be sent several times before they finally made it out.
At the company meeting. Live Mesh is awesome. Office 14 is gettting lots of applause too.
Watching cool demos of Live Search.
XBox has good stuff coming.
Just saw world premier of more MS ads. Will show up on TV tonight. Much better than the first one.
Windows 7 demo is cool!
Raiin Wison led us in making a new world record of simultaneous paper airplanes in the air–22K.
One of the best ways to predict the future is to invent the future.–Craig Mundie
The robotics demo was impresssive. Receptionist assistant will go to beta in a few months.
Fireworks for Steve Baller’s entrance.
60B in sales. 22B in gross income. No other company (if they aren’t an oil company) can say that.
Apple: GAME ON!
Google has never been challenged. I want see what happens when they are.–Steve B.
Kayaking for geeks
Because my officemate, I, (and a few others) won an award for working some long hours last year and delivering on time we spent the money by taking a few others and going kayaking on Lake Union this afternoon. I updated my Twitter account several times and was wardriving with my cell phone while kayaking. Here are the twitter updates:
- http://twitter.com/JoeHuffman/statuses/899833135
- http://twitter.com/JoeHuffman/statuses/899858649
- http://twitter.com/JoeHuffman/statuses/899876994
- http://twitter.com/JoeHuffman/statuses/899900654
- http://twitter.com/JoeHuffman/statuses/899931397
My boss took some pictures and updated his Facebook account with them while still on the water. Ry (who wasn’t even there) tagged some of the pictures with names before we made it back to work and dropped people off.
Bicycle ride to Paradise
Co-worker Kris recently arrived here from Australia. Saturday he rode his bicycle from the Mount Rainer park entrance to the Paradise visitor center and then back down the mountain. The elevation of Paradise is 5400 feet and the temperature was 95 F. He estimates he burned 4288 calories and consumed 5.8 liters (1.5 gallons) of fluids. He also got hit by a car on the way up.
And he says eating Vegemite demonstrates Aussies are tough.
I have an admirer among my co-workers
Kris tells a little about working with me.
Quote of the day–Kris
Nothing says “Awesome!” like a woman that knows how to make explosives.
Kris (a co-worker of mine at Microsoft)
August 11, 2008
After seeing this blog post about Kim.
[This is a co-worker of mine. We’ve been sharing tips on how to make things that go boom.–Joe]
Dinner with a soft green glow
Barb and I have a very social weekend ahead of us.
First off is lunch with son James.
Tonight Barb and I are having dinner with Phil (from SoftGreenGlow.com) and his wife. Despite the references to the canned salmon mouse I’m sure we will have a pleasant evening.
Tomorrow is the company picnic with probably 5 or 10 thousand other people.