MightyFine October 5, 2021
Posted by Peter Varhol in Uncategorized.add a comment
I don’t think “Hawkeye” Pierce ever said that in the series, but it was a staple in the original book. And while I live next door to Maine, I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone actually say it. But it defines a group of people that I would like to call out.
Yesterday afternoon I posted word on LinkedIn of a new role I had acquired. By midnight I had twenty responses. Seventeen came from people that I worked with at Compuware, 20 years ago. Three of those former colleagues hailed from our EMEA office, and I met them perhaps once or twice.
That’s really pretty incredible, that after 20 years, so many of my former colleagues not only remembered me, but were thoughtful enough to congratulate me and ask how life was going. I cannot tell you how touched I was.
Compuware constructed a great distributed products company (services not so much) with people who were truly special. Then they killed it. I would work with this same team again in a heartbeat, but that time has passed. I don’t want to name names publicly, but you know who you are, and thank you for being who you are.
I Did Get Back October 4, 2021
Posted by Peter Varhol in travel.Tags: air travel, COVID, International, Swiss Testing Day
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About six weeks ago I wrote about the prospect of going to speak at a conference in Europe. It seemed complicated to get there, and uncertain to get back.
Well, both worked, but it wasn’t fun. It’s very difficult these days. I entered Schengen through Amsterdam, so was required to have paperwork for transiting the Netherlands, even though I was entirely airside. There was a quarantine declaration, a health certificate, and a letter of invitation saying that I was authorized to transit to my destination. Maybe one other thing; I lost track.
Switzerland required a vaccine certification and health document, which they never checked upon arrival (as I arrived early Saturday, I went to a lounge at the airport to kill some time, and had enough to drink so that it didn’t matter). Logan, I was required to show vaccine cards and the Netherlands quarantine certificate, even though I was not staying in the Netherlands. Immigration at Schiphol was very crowded, but they pushed people through quickly.
I wear KN95 masks, face shields, and vinyl gloves. uncomfortable, but I did okay. Everyone needs a negative Covid test to get back into the US (rapid antigen will do), but commercial services in other countries don’t know how to accommodate American requirements. I was supposed to use the Swiss Covid app on Google Play, but my phone couldn’t find it. The conference staff were extremely accommodating, and made it happen. I’m not sure I could have done it on my own.
The conference was what Switzerland calls a certificate event. If everyone is vaccinated or tested, no masks were required. That made me uncomfortable, and I masked the entire conference.
In addition to showing a negative Covid test (checked before boarding KLM in Zurich at 5 in the morning), the CDC requires a signed attestation (their word) that I in fact did have a negative Covid test. Not collected until Schiphol, and many passengers were not aware of it, which really caused chaos during boarding.
Fortunately, the flight to Logan was less than half full, and I had no one sitting near, so I could take off the face shield and gloves during the flight. But it was not fun at all.
I Love What America Can Become September 22, 2021
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Yes, another off-topic post. But I don’t mind my views and personalities to come out on occasion.
I have had an interesting ride in these 60-odd years. I have seen much in that time, and my own attitudes have changed as I understand more. I grew up in a blue collar union household, and railed against it, primarily because I fervently believed that pay and promotions shouldn’t be defined strictly by seniority.
Well, I got educated, and educated some more (three masters degrees and some PhD work), and did reasonably well for myself. But as I got older, I found my thoughts drifting back toward those blue collar roots. There was significant upheaval in the world of work; I tell those who serve me that they work for a living, possibly unlike me.
I think we need the fresh ideas and perspectives that immigrants bring. My own grandparents came through Ellis Island, and while they were largely dirt farmers and coal miners, their children moved on to significant contributors to society and the economy. I don’t care where they come from; our culture will help them achieve the greatness that is almost certainly within them.
So back to America. I am unhappy that we can’t treat all men and women equally, and there seems to be a significant faction that wants America to become a redux of the Donna Reed Show, or Leave it to Beaver. Those times are long gone, and while they reflected society at the time, society has changed. I think perhaps for the better, because we cannot stay stagnant. We will continue to change, whether we want to or not.
I sometimes despair that we won’t overcome those 1950s attitudes. I have good friends, intelligent and thoughtful friends, whose world view is firmly rooted in that era. There seem to be others who have to be dragged kicking and screaming out of that era.
I look forward to the surprises that the future holds. I can’t wait.
Not Cut and Dried September 18, 2021
Posted by Peter Varhol in Uncategorized.Tags: General Milley, Posse Comitatus
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Not at all on topic for me, but sometimes you just have something to say.
I’ve been reading about how Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley took it upon himself to inset himself into the nuclear chain of command during the last weeks of the Trump presidency. Many seem aghast that a military officer would potentially usurp the powers which are the primary (though for various reasons not sole) prerogative of the President.
Many years ago, when I was reading the Tom Clancy novels, longtime Clancy protagonist Jack Ryan served briefly as the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) in The Sum of All Fears. A suitcase nuclear weapon had been detonated in the US, and the President demanded retaliation. In a Cabinet meeting, Ryan was the only one with the authority to verify that order, and refused. “Give me a name or an organization that is responsible, and I will take them out,” he said (approximately). “But I will not kill a hundred million people because you’re upset.” Now, this was fiction, and Ryan was a civilian at the time, but had been a Marine officer earlier in his career, and had to be well aware of the consequences of his refusal.
I have been a military officer, albeit not a very good one. Yet any thoughtful military member spends some time thinking about their response if they receive an illegal order from a superior. Granted, whether or not any given order is illegal is highly ambiguous, and refusing an order that is later deemed legal is a criminal offense (in wartime, a summary offense). It is up to us as individuals to determine whether we can carry out such an order, and there is no answer that doesn’t have the strong potential to make us criminals. Thanks to Nazi Germany, “I was just following orders” is not a defense.
Now, I don’t know General Milley or his state of mind at all, and I was deeply disturbed at his striding in camo mufti alongside Trump on June 1, 2020 as the police and National Guard gassed peaceful protesters so Trump could have a photo op at Lafayette Square. His doing so provided tacit but clear support of any military intervention in a peaceful protest. It’s not at all clear to me that Milley has since atoned for that unconscionable act, and I don’t know his motivations in making himself a part of the nuclear chain of command, if in fact that’s the way it happened.
And I am a strong believer in the Posse Comitatus Act, which limits the ability of leadership to use military forces in domestic law enforcement. In fact, I would take it a step further and absolutely prohibit the use of the military in such actions. I offer two reasons. First, military members are highly trained in warfighting, not law enforcement, and will likely make serious mistakes if used in that capacity (see the Kent State Massacre). Second, we have seen too many situations around the world where national leaders have called out their own military to suppress their citizens. It is a bad look, and it never ends well.
I will say two things regarding General Milley, however. First, in the military the higher your rank, the more your decisions have consequences. Second, there is no correct answer, and however he may have acted, he could have found himself in serious trouble.
So assuming that this tale is true, I do approve of his decision. No one wants war less than the military, who are the ones putting their lives on the line (certainly not the politicians). The fact that war is occasionally necessary is an unfortunate byproduct of the many different motivations of people around the world. The US nuclear arsenal is supposed to be a deterrent against nuclear attack by other aggressors (well, that’s somewhat ambiguous too), rather than a deadly cudgel to be used at the whim of a single person. There should always be someone in the chain of command with second thoughts.
About the Tide of History September 16, 2021
Posted by Peter Varhol in Education, Uncategorized.Tags: 9/11, current events, History
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This story starts about 20 years ago, when my manager at the time Shari Zedeck mentioned that her daughter had entered and won a statewide school history competition, where she was required to research and write about a significant event in history.
She chose to write about Watergate, and by all accounts did a really good job of it. My immediate and visceral response was that Watergate wasn’t history, it was current events. After all, while I was a teen, I remember it well. But it made me ponder on just what history means, an idea that I carried forward into my most recent blog post.
The answer is that if you had a front row seat, it wasn’t history.
So what did I have a front row seat to? November 22, 1963, I was in the first grade at Johnson Street Elementary School, and we were abruptly sent home from school about half an hour early, without explanation. I got home to find my mother in crying in front of the TV. “They killed him.” (I hope you know who).
So the mid-late 1960s, and everything beyond, I at least know second-hand through the news (and the news is a separate discussion). None of this seems like history to me, even if I had to read about it in the newspapers (Pittsburgh Press and Beaver County Times).
Yet one news source made the point that the soldiers killed in the suicide bombing at Kabul Airport were at best babies on 9/11. To them, 9/11 was something that they learned about in school. There couldn’t have been any direct memories.
So what is history? It’s actually a moving target, depending on your perspective of the events in question. The distinction may well be an artificial one, except that current events tend to shape your life, and history is more or less academic. Was my outlook and attitudes shaped by the assassinations and race riots of the 1960s, duck and cover in elementary school (look it up), the Vietnam War in the early 1970s, the gas lines later in the 1970s, and so on? I think so.
Current events take on a certain personal point of view. I wanted to fly, soloed the day after my 16th birthday, was in Junior ROTC in high school, ROTC in college, an Air Force officer for six years. My vision prevented me from being a pilot, but I was affiliated with the military for more than a decade. The Vietnam War, Grenada (bet you don’t remember that one), and Beirut gave me qualified respect for those who served, while recognizing that our policy makers were not by any means perfect.
History does not have a personal perspective; even if I’ve visited historical locations, the events surrounding them remain removed from my experience. That doesn’t make them any less real, but it does mean that they don’t have the same impact.
So take advantage of the current events in your lifetime. I have lived in interesting times, which is both a blessing and a curse.
Honoring 9/11 Victims September 9, 2021
Posted by Peter Varhol in Uncategorized.Tags: 9/11
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I have a bit of a personal connection to 9/11; two of my work colleagues were on the planes that struck the World Trade Center Towers. It was a somber day for all of us in the office, and one that I will never forget. I usually write a blog post on the anniversary, and in recent years have tried to do something in recognition of all of the victims.
This year, the 20th anniversary, I am once again running in a race, the Never Forget race from Virtual Strides. Because it is virtual, I am able to do it anywhere I like. This September 11 I will be in Zurich, Switzerland speaking at Swiss Testing Day, and running it the afternoon I arrive.
Because I was an adult at the time of 9/11, and because it touched people that I worked with and cared about, I will never forget. But 9/11 has already became a part of history for many younger people, who lack the “I was there” perspective.
And that’s okay, as long as we don’t forget. It becomes an indelible part of our history. If you were too young to have a front row seat, you should at least know the story.
Tragically, Once Again Self-Driving Cars Aren’t August 28, 2021
Posted by Peter Varhol in Machine Learning, Software development, Technology and Culture, travel.Tags: autonomous vehicles
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Two stories crossed my attention today that once again, tragically demonstrate that we are likely decades away from self-driving cars, if at all. The first, and stupidest, was with the largest and most arrogant auto company, Toyota, which for some inconceivable reason decided to test-drive its autonomous buses at the Paralympics. One hit an athlete in a legal crosswalk, injuring him and knocking him out of the Games.
Toyota’s CEO posted an apology on YouTube (not even referring to the athlete’s name, which is simply insulting), which is not so much an apology as a brazen PR stunt. I know people who swear by Toyota cars; I swear at them, and this level of arrogance makes it worse. Make it right with the athlete, which Toyota will not do, lest they damage their brand.
The second is, of course, a Tesla, which advertises a “fully autonomous mode” which is anything but. A driver who admits he was not paying attention, instead watching a movie, hit two police cars with lights flashing on the side of the road, attending to another motorist.
Of course, despite the marketing names Tesla gives its driver-assist technology (and that’s really what it is), they have plenty of caveats in the fine print. Those caveats are to keep it out of legal trouble even though the marketing names strongly suggest otherwise. This was the eleventh police car displaying flashing lights that Teslas have hit. While Tesla may end up being a long term success, it is doing itself no favors in the interim.
So what happened to all of the predictions? This is how Anthony Foxx, former U.S. secretary of transportation, envisioned the future of autonomous vehicles in 2016:
“By 2021, we will see autonomous vehicles in operation across the country in ways that we [only] imagine today. … Families will be able to walk out of their homes and call a vehicle, and that vehicle will take them to work or to school. We’re going to see transit systems sharing services with some of these companies.”
Auto executives were no less effusive. Elon Musk is by far the worst of the group. I strongly believe that these so-called predictions were/are criminally wrong, because they encourage people to misuse today’s technology.
I personally believe that fully autonomous vehicles are at least decades away, and possibly completely infeasible.
On Work and Life August 16, 2021
Posted by Peter Varhol in Technology and Culture.Tags: career, moonlight
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A recent Wall Street Journal article (paywall) focused on work from home employees who were actually working two or more full-time jobs, without their employers’ knowledge. Scott Adams actually touched on this topic with a recent Dilbert, which has Wally engaged in two Zoom calls at the same time.
The comments are more interesting than the article. The majority of the comments are negative, and they seem to overwhelmingly come from a certain demographic (to be fair, my demographic). Those of us who came of age in the ’60s and ’70s internalized the righteousness of loyalty to our employer. This was, of course, when many people expected to have 1-2 employers in a career.
That started to fall apart in the 1980s and beyond with massive layoffs, so those that came of age then and later probably have a more cynical viewpoint. The employment contract has changed, and this small number of employees are taking advantage of that. I can’t fault them, though many commenters were aghast, calling it a brazen fraud. But over the last 30 years, you could lose your job at any time, for any reason, so why not have a spare. Even seeming secure jobs could disappear at the loss of a contract, or the capriciousness of management. I have rarely had a job (or in many cases even a company) that lasted more than a few years.
Surely there are a lot of pros and cons here. If they are doing the work expected of them, it seems difficult to find fault. It feels a little bit sleazy, but maybe that’s just my cultural heritage. Many younger workers today are used to the gig economy, where they juggle several projects from different employers.
Those who are doing so make good points. Much of their time is consumed in pointless meetings, so they endeavor to minimize those meetings in order to work more efficiently. If their main employer forces pointless (and yes, many meetings are), meetings, and work that will just be tossed aside, this is a way for employees to fight back. I have some semblance of a moral code, but it never really extended to anything like this.
I moonlighted for much of my career, rarely if ever working on my extracurricular activities from the office, but spending plenty of evening and weekend time on it. My employers (or at least my manager) generally knew, although certainly no one made a big deal out of it (well, one did). But almost all thought it best to remain quiet about my outside gigs. Those gigs were highly visible in the industry, and could have brought credit upon my employers, if they cared. They didn’t, so I did them anyway.
So I’m not sure this is wrong in many ways. I feel for those who are in their early careers, perhaps already laid off several times, who are striving for the semblance of a real career (don’t feel bad; I didn’t have a real career). I think they are the ones who can look the Man in the eye and give him the finger.
Cutting Edge Computing 