Category Archives: News & Reviews

I was sad to read that writer Madeleine L’Engle died
this month. When I was a girl, I read L’Engle’s classic
A Wrinkle in Time at least a dozen times. The

EpiscopalLife Online story from 7 September says she
wrote more than 60 books and includes the quote:

“In times when we are not particularly suffering, we do not have enough time for God,” she said. “We are too busy with other things. And then the intense suffering comes, and we can not be busy with other things. And then God comes into the equation. Help. And we should never be afraid of crying out, ‘Help!’ I need all the help I can get.”

When Meg from A Wrinkle in Time sets out to travel through time
and space to save her little brother Charles, she became the first young
heroine I could believe in.

Phil Rosenzweig was a teammate who was among the victims killed
in the crash of American Airlines Flight 11 at the World Trade Center in
New York City on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. One of Phil’s several
memorials at Sun campuses is near the Menlo Park building where I work.
On September 11th each year, Phil’s black bench under a willow tree
bears flowers (and sometimes his favorite cookies). Here is the
flag at half mast for Phil in front of Sun’s Santa Clara clock tower
building today:

We miss you, Phil.

Image Copyright 2007 by John Plocher

Dr. Cesar Molina, Medical Director of the
South Asian Heart Center
of El Camino Hospital,
came to Sun’s Menlo Park campus today to talk about
heart health. This is the second talk I set up as part of CTO

Greg Papadopoulos’ sponsorship of

Silicon Valley Heart Walk 2007 by the
American Heart Association.
The Heart Walk will be held this Sunday morning, 16 September at
De Anza in Cupertino. Go to the

Sun’s Company Page to sign up as a Sun Heart Walker or to make a donation to support one of our teams.

Dr. Molina’s talk was fascinating and passionate and funny. He built his
case for life changes (no smoking, regular exercise, eat more fruits and
vegetables, achieve a healthy weight) from both detailed analysis of
medical studies and from less conventional sources of wisdom. My
favorite was this quote from President Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865):

Do not worry; eat three square meals a day; say your prayers; be courteous to your creditors; keep your digestion good; exercise; go slow and easy. Maybe there are other things your special case requires to make you happy; but, my friend, these I reckon will give you a good lift.

Dr. Molina talked about many aspects of health with examples drawn from
both the general American context but also from the culture and population
of South Asians. I had asked the Heart Association to invite someone
who could speak particularly to Sun’s Engineering population, which
includes many South Asians. Before today, I had not been aware that
Coronary Artery Disease strikes South Asians at a

four-fold rate compared to the general population. This holds true
even for lifelong vegetarians who do not smoke and are not overweight.
Even though I hosted the talk, I was surprised at how much I learned.

Sun’s CTO
Greg Papadopoulos is Sun’s sponsor for this year’s
American Heart Association Silicon Valley
Heart Walk. The fund raising and advocacy event will be:

• September 16, 2007
• De Anza College, Cupertino, CA

The American Heart Association is the largest voluntary health organization working to prevent, treat and defeat heart disease, stroke and other cardiovascular diseases. These diseases devastate millions of people of all ages and kill more than 910,000 Americans each year. To fight cardiovascular diseases, the association supports research, education and advocacy and helps heart disease and stroke patients.

6 September Talk by 2 CTOs:
Tomorrow at 12:15 p.m., Greg and Symantec’s CTO,
Mark Bregman are speaking to Sun employees here at Sun’s Menlo Park
campus about “Technology, the Industry, and Wellness: Why They Go Together”.
Both Chief Technologists are executive sponsors of Silicon Valley Heart
Walk 2007.

Sun’s Heart Walk team has been putting up posters and sending out emails
encouraging Sun staff to attend tomorrow’s talk and also sign up to walk
on 16 September. Please go to
Sun’s company page to sign up as a Heart Walker or team leader.

I haven’t been able to post any photos to my blog, or even
read and write email from home with any ease since we got
back from our camping vacation on 17 August. Our

DSL service (by Covad) and
phone lines (AT&T) have been seriously messed up. After many laboriously-scheduled and days-delayed home visits by technical support
from both Covad and AT&T, we understand that the phone wires are too long
from AT&T’s central office, plus the wires are old and deteriorating.
Many customers in our area of Willow Glen (San Jose) complain frequently
but we have not heard that there is any plan to fix the problem. Our
next door neighbor uses

cable modem (which he says works great at 2 a.m. but less well otherwise).

John has contacted
Etheric Networks about getting radio

broadband point-to-point high speed internet installed to replace DSL.
Since we had Sprint broadband (before their performance tanked),
we already have an antenna bolted to our chimney. We hope that the
new service can be installed tomorrow afternoon. It costs more but
does not rely on phone lines to work. It also will allow us to continue
to have our own servers with static IP addresses.

Right now, in order to read email for about 10 minutes before it breaks
again, I have to:

1. Go downstairs to the basement and toggle the round button on
   the back of the BritePort DSL modem so that it resets
2. Go upstairs to my desk, unplug then replug my SunRay
3. Wait 3 minutes for the login box to appear on my monitor
4. Use my Sun enigmacard to generate a password
5. Wait 3 minutes for everything to reset over and over and finally
   display my current work space
6. Work really quick until it breaks. Start over.

Oh, the joys of trying to work from home.

“Making IT Work for Women –
Four women tell how they’ve survived and flourished in the IT culture.”

by Mary Brandel, August 06, 2007 (Computerworld)

“Computerworld talked with four successful women about their own experiences in the IT profession: what they’ve found difficult, what they’ve found fulfilling and what they think it takes to attract more women into the field.”

I was one of those interviewed for this article. I think it came out well.
It is always interesting to see what parts of a conversation a reporter picks to
include in her story. I enjoyed reading the stories on the other three women profiled.
Mary Brandel has a two other related articles out today:

1. 
   “Seven Rules for Women in IT”
   
   by Mary Brandel, August 06, 2007 (Computerworld)
   
2. 
   A Nuanced View From Women in IT
   
   by Mary Brandel, August 06, 2007 (Computerworld)
   

My daughter is going off to college in a few weeks and we are
getting ready for the big move. CMU
just sent us the “Carnegie Mellon Family Handbook” – a booklet
full of information about Academic Life, Student Services, Campus
Activities and Services, etc. I found the following formal definition
of Quiet amusing. I can only imagine how many discussions
and arguments and incidents it took to get a definition this precise:

Community Standards at the Residences

Quiet Hours

Quiet hours are maintained weekdays from 8 pm to 8 am and weekends from
2 am to 9 am. “Quiet” may be defined during quiet hours as being unable
to hear any noise from a room with a closed door ten feet away, above and
below. Courtesy hours exist at all other times. During courtesy hours,
noise which is heard by others who are 50 feet away is considered a
disturbance.