Blogs October 2005

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---

A man can stand anything except a succession of ordinary days.

(Goethe)

October

Monday, 2005-10-31

The best education consists in immunizing people against systematic attempts at education. Paul Feyerabend

Homesick

For some reason, I went to the website of my hometown. I found a nice panorama of Tampere. It occurred, that when I was young, we never went sailing/boating on the great lakes. We used to walk on the ice in the winter, but in the summer we stayed ashore for some reason. I do not even remember anyone's parent owning a boat. My uncle had a boat for a while, but he never took us abroad. My parents used to rent a summer cottage somewhere in the countryside and we always used to have a rowboat there. Maybe that's the reason. But I am very much homesick right now.

Networking - your help needed 

Let's network. As you may know, I am asystem architect with 7 years of experience in designing and architecting embedded, real-time, distributes systems. I have two master's degrees: one in philosophy from University of Helsinki and the other in Engineering & Management from MIT. My resume tells the details. I am now looking for a job, in which I can use my experience in systems architecting and my education in management. I would prefer working in New York, Boston, San Francisco, London, Paris, Berlin, Munich, Venice, Tokyo, Singapore, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki, Sydney, Toronto, Shanghai, Hong Kong, or Amsterdam, or very near of these cities. If you have any ideas or names whom to contact, please send me email!

On attire and interviews

Some companies are coming to interview me and other SDM-students here in the MIT-campus. We have been told, that we should wear "business attire" (meaning suit and tie etc) for the interviews. I find that peculiar. First of all, they are coming to our territory, and should respect the way we dress here - just as we respect their ways when going to their territory. Second, I assume, that the purpose of the interview is to check what we have in our brains, not what we have at home in the closets. Third, if they want to hire us, because of what we have in our brains, there will be plenty of time for buying the mandatory and fashionable uniform - maybe they can even give exact specification or even provide uniforms as Starbucks, Wall-Mart and other uniformed companies do. Or like the army does. That would be fine. And while they are at it, maybe they should mandate certain haircuts and sizes of people (oh, wait, Wal-Mart tries to do that already; they will not hire obese anymore). 

On-line banking

It seems, that my bank provides on-line banking. I can set it up myself. It also seems, that they only use password and username, not those single-use identifications as in Finland. If so, I consider the on-line system not safe enough. 

Muda in bank 

I bought some book with my credit card (one needs to use credit card - otherwise one does not have credit history and is a subhuman). Today, I received my bill from the bank. They asked me to send them a check to pay my credit card bill. Crazy! Using credit card is more time consuming than using cash. No benefit. I went to bank to pay the bill. It was not that easy. First, I write a check to the bank (they cannot use their computer system to transfer money from my account to theirs), then the teller copies all the information from the check to other piece of paper, ask her supervisor to sign the other piece of paper, then the teller input the information to their computer system, then the teller stamps all papers she has concerning this transaction, writes some information to some of the papers, and finally prints out two receipts for me. And I am all set. 

Sunday, 2005-10-30

In answer to the proposal that Russian troops take part in operations in Iraq, you just want to say, "Right, like we're that stupid" Vladimir Putin, May 11, 2003 ( Not that Russia's operations in Caucasus are too wise)

Autumn bikeride 

In Boston, it pays to go cycling when weather permits. It may not do so the next day. Today the weather was exceptionally pleasant: sunny, almost calm, 14C. I packed my pannier, pumped some air to the front-tire of my bike and broke the valve. The great hissing sound. And I had to change the tire. No more spare tires were left, but I was bold enough to leave for the Blue Hills. Some redneck told me (from the relative safety of his car) that I am an idiot and should not be cycling where he is driving. I told him, that his dick is minuscule - he seemed to agree and drove away, a bit blushed. Although I am not sure whether he understood me. Who cares?
I took some pictures of the old factories by the Neponset river. A poor man was fishing there, next to a "no trespassing"-sign. Maybe fishing is not trespassing. The river and the factories reminded me of my hometown Tampere, I was homesick for several seconds. Then I left the scene. 

Hillside street is the nicest road I have seen in Boston. It connects Randolph avenue to Uniquity road. There are several stylish mansions, a horse-farm, and a nice pond by the street. There is also a short stretch with no houses, just forest and the pond. The street itself is narrow, just wide for two cars to pass each other with great care. This time I did not spot any wildlife. 
Uniquity road leads to the Blue Hill Reservation headquarters. From there, I took a dirt trail trough the forest to the Trailside museum. My bike is not very good off-road, the tires are too narrow, I had to walk it uphill since there was not enough traction. Walking was better, I could watch the forest more carefully. There were some nice parts with colorful trees, but unfortunately most of the leaves were already on the ground. 
I returned via Blue Hill avenue and some other avenues, roads, streets, and paths to Mirja's and Milton's in Rosindale. They were not at home. I did not leave any blame at their door, for the weather was too nice for two outdoor persons to stay at home. I am sure they were hiking somewhere. So, I had to return back to Boston, but not directly. Direct returns are for non-adventurous sissies. So, I took the Hillside avenue etc to Brookline, which is quite a lively place. But I did not stop, and somehow found myself by the North Station. At this point it was getting dark and I was getting hungry. Maybe 3.5 hours cycling is enough for one day. So, I met with Kumar, who took me somewhere far away and there in the middle of nowhere, in total darkness, some nice Tamils served us extremely delicious South-Indian food. I am not such an expert in South-Indian cousine, but I trust Kumar ; he says the food was authentic. 
This was my day. Not a bad day at all.

Saturday, 2005-10-29

Anti-war demonstration 

There was an anti-war demonstration in the Boston Commons today. Some 300 demonstrators, music, speeches, police (on foot, on bicycles, on horses, on motorcycles, in cars - at least 100 officers), two counter-demonstrations (some 4 skinheads demonstrating their homophobia & 5 right-wing sissies who are too afraid to enlist for service but proud enough to support war), the normal demonstration happening. It is strange how anti-war demonstrations always attract all socialists, feminists, vegans, communists, etc. Nothing wrong in that, but it somewhat confuses the message, even though it is somewhat possible to tie feminist themes to anti-war themes, but still. The best group was Billionaires for Bush, whom I joined, of course. I am a billionaire-to-be, for sure. I need to adopt the role right now. You must join billionaires-for-Bush as soon as possible. Otherwise the bad guys may rob our money and prevent us from making more by waging wars somewhere. 
More anti-war stuff later. As always. 

Mentors 

Professor Crawley recommends having (system architect) mentors. Mentors are friends (idols), who have more experience and are willing to share it. I am happy to have several mentors. But I think just having professional mentors is not enough. I have found that having scientific/philosophical mentors, or role-models, as just as essential, if not even more. Mine are Feyerabend, Feynman, von Plato, and Ranta. Ranta was my thesis advisor back in 1995 and a friend ever since. He taught me how to do science in honest and strict way. von Plato was leader of research group of type theory. He taught me how be fast, how to do philosophy in a joyful manner. Feynman and Feyerabend have since taught me more in similar vein and also encouraged me to be more and more curious. I have some other role-models, too. Martin-Löf showed me how logic can be fun, how conceptual clarity is what counts, and how scientific research is an end in itself, not just a means for getting articles published. Still others: Russell (showing how ethics is important), Wittgenstein (clarity, self-disciple, ethics, humbleness), von Wright (well, he was the role-model of every Finnish philosophy student). 

Adventure - the first snow 

After the demonstration, I had a nice adventure. First, I took the red line to Davis Square, visited the superb second-hand bookstore (I bought Killing time by Feyrabend), had coffee in the Diesel Cafe (which was full of young students doing their thing). I came to wonder, how the young look so young - I cannot remember ever dating anyone so young looking. But I did, almost 20 years back. It was a very strange and also liberating feeling. I am so happy to be as old as I am, and I have always been. Then, it was time to read book. The best way to read a book is to take the T somewhere and just relax. I rode the T all the way to Braintree and then back to the South Station. I then took the Silver line (really weird bus) to the E-terminal of Logan airport. It is always so energizing to see happy reunions in the airport. (I also saw some really busy businessmen - they were cutting deals on the mobile phone and peeing at the same time - nasty way of doing business, I would say). Back to Back Bay with the blue and green lines. Based on today experiments, the green line is best for reading. Later, dinner and coffee with Kumar.

Friday, 2005-10-28

Job search

Head-hunters are hunting me. I am discussing with several hunters, who try to get my scalp and place me to some companies. I like it, I like outsourcing parts of my job search. I also applied for several jobs in London. I do not need a visa to work there, so it may be much easier to get a job over there. As I will not sell myself cheap, I limited the applications to jobs paying more than 90k pounds. I have heard that London is an expensive place to live. 

Mass-ID mystery

Does requiring several identification proofs make any difference? If I can forge a passport, why cannot I forge any number of utility bills, social security cards etc? I came to think about this today, when I tried to get a Massachusetts state ID-card. I had my passport, my social security card, and my phone bill with me. These documents were not enough! They do not prove, that the signature I had to write on the application and also on a touch screen at the counter is really my signature. I tried to use my Finnish driver's license, but it was of no use. Now, I have to go back and show my I-20-form (some kind of residence permit). The clerk said, that if I sign my I-20, it will prove my signature. At some point I got lost in this reasoning. But I will go back with my I-20 and I hope the rules have not got any more complicated before that. 

Zip-code mystery

Why do I always have to fill in city (Boston), state (MA), and zip-code (02116)? I assume, that each zip-code in unique within USA. So, why the need to fill in redundant information?

Time mystery

Is time of the rich more valuable than time of the poor? In traffic planning, it is common to translate time savings (due to new highway etc) to money savings using some hourly salary of drivers. If time of the rich is more valuable, then building highways to rich areas makes more sense than to poor areas. However, I would say that time of the poor is more valuable, since their average life is shorter than that of the rich. But, even this does not makes sense. If it would, we would have to deal our prison sentences proportional to wealth. I assume this is not acceptable. So, time of every person, poor or rich, is as valuable. 

Again a book from Canongate

I received A short history of the myth by Karen Armstrong from Canongate, with compliments. The book seems to be very interesting treatise of how and why we humans use myths. Kudos to Canongate. 

Phones

Not only is voicemail important and much use here, but also fixed phones are still so common. And all call must go through the switching lade/gentleman. This arrangement does remind me of the times I started to work for Nokia Data in 1988. Nice that traditions are well-kept here in USA. 

Thursday, 2005-10-27

A new book from a favorite publisher

I just received The facts behind the Helsinki Roccamations by Yann Martel. It is published by Canongate, one of my favorite publisher. What's more, I got the book free for I registered to their new webservice. Check Canongate, they indeed publish very interesting new literature. And while you are at it, check also Granta, another great publisher. And please let me know about other great small publishers, preferably in USA.

Voice-mail vs email: cultural differences

In Finland we usually use email or SMS to communicate. For example, if I send an email to someone, I always get an email back. Also, many time people make first contact by email. Here in USA, things are different. It seems that many are still reluctant to use email (not to speak of SMS - it is not in use at all here). Since my phone works rather poorly inside buildings here, and I tend to keep it silent anyway (in libraries etc), I usually miss most calls. So, I get many voice-mail messages. It is quite OK, but I would definitely like the callers to speak clearly and slowly their phone-numbers. Several times I have not been able to call back as I have not been able to decipher the exceeding fast spoken phone-number. 

Coffee stirrer mystery

In USA, it is not common to stir coffee with a spoon. Instead, the most common tool for stirring coffee is a straw, which is usually used for drinking soda. I find this habit strange. I would appreciate any anecdotes how this bizarre habit started. 

Do dead soldiers matter?

I do not think so. The purpose of war is to defeat the enemy. The enemy naturally opposes and fights back. So, on both sides soldiers get killed, maimed, and permanently injured. That's part of the business of waging war. So, having got 2000 US-soldiers killed in USA is nothing to worry about. Actually, it is too few - they are not pushing hard enough to win the war. I would be more concerned and worried about those tens of thousands of civilians who get killed in the process of waging this (illegal) war. I consider anyone who did not oppose the war in 2003 and now worries about 2000 or more dead Americans as a hypocrite. If one supports war, one must put up with dead soldiers. (or, if one wants to worry about dead soldiers, one must worry over those at the defending side - this is usually the case. Remember that it still kind of inappropriate to grief over dead German and Japanese soldiers in the WWII.)

Working style

My style of working on papers is rather strange. I start to work early, reading material, developing conceptual systems and lines of reasoning. But I am not able to write anything before the time is running out. Fortunately, I usually (actually always) have the arguments and the whole text (as I write it it over and over again in my mind, when walking, cycling). This way works well for me, but I do not have text to show in several iterations - which is something many others do have. 

Thomas Friedman and China

A quick note. Thomas Friedman's concerns about China's environmental have been fully developed in Jared Diamond's book "Collapse". 

Miers, Bush, and Rove

Harriet E. Miers withdrew her nomination for the Supreme Court. Now, why did she do it? Most likely because her lack of experience and other qualifications (level of ultra-concervativism/naive Christianity) were not necessary. This provided the far right an excuse for opposing her. Thus, she withdraw. What happens next? Bush will nominate some very ultra-concervative "religious" anti-abortionist. Nobody in the republican party will be able to oppose such a nomination, nor can the democrats stop it. They can filibuster but it is of no use. In short, Miers was not even meant to get nominated, she was supposed to step down, and make room for the real nominee. This is how clever Mr. Rove is. Or should I just check my medication. (And I did not read NY Times columnists Thomas Friedman, Paul Krugman or Bob Herbert - they will write about this later). 

New website starting

I am working on a new website about systems architecting. I will use it as my excuse of doing something, my personal hacking area, a place to put my draft papers and collect links etc. I try to make in WEB 2.0-compatible, really interactive, to get some help from other systems architect enthusiasts. The site should be useful in less than two months, about the same time as my thesis will be ready. 

Wednesday, 2005-10-26

Interviews

It seems, that recruiting is picking up. I got one interview invitation yesterday. The only bad thing is that the interview will take place in MIT career office, which is the most ugly and depressing place in the campus. Also, some other companies are contacting me for resumes and other information. And then there are some totally secret stuff going on. And I have still many applications out waiting for some decisions. 

China and environment 

Thomas Friedman writes on the environmental crisis going on in China (today in NY Times). He ends with

And that is why the most important strategy the U.S. and China need to pursue, in concert, is one that brings business, government and N.G.O.'s together to produce a more sustainable form of development - so China can create a model for itself and others on how to do more things with less stuff and fewer emissions. That is the economic, environmental and national security issue of our day. Nothing else is even close.

I have to agree based on what I saw in China in 2003 and 2004. 

Religion 

Times (UK) has a very interesting article on how religion causes damage to society. According to some research, the more religious a society is, the more there are trends towards high murder rates, abortion, sexual promiscuity and suicide, according to research published today. Very likely it is so. Check the article and decide for yourself. 

Tuesday, 2005-10-25

Thesis progress

Assume, that we have a proof of a mathematical theorem. It has some formulas. Assume also, we have some way of measuring the complexity of the proof, say it is C. Now, let's rewrite the theorem in natural language without formulas. Does the complexity of the theorem and proof change? According to Kolmogorov, I think it will not. It is still the same theorem and the same proof. The same holds with some (or even most) SW complexity measures. They assume (and measure) the minimal formulation of a algorithm. Now, with systems architectures, assuming such a minimum is not reasonable. Even though there most likely is a minimum system fulfilling certain requirements, it is not easy to find it - if it were, we would not hesitate in implementing it. So, with systems architectures there is something different going on. But what, I am not sure. What is the effect of transformations of models on complexity? ( I have some ideas, but I will not reveal them here - and I have many other interesting questions and answers already). 

A sign

A sign on the door of building 9 of MIT says:

The doors of the building 9 will be closed between 6pm and 6am daily. Please, do not break the doors. 

Wall-Mart

Wall-Mart announced its new environmental targets today. It will try to cut down the energy use by 25% (shops) and 50% (truck), remove extra packaging in all its products. It has several reasons for doing this: the main ones being that they cannot anymore optimize their supply chain nor can they lower the salaries of their "associates". So, they have to look for savings elsewhere. Of course, the whole idea of businesses looking for (or mandating) higher mileage for trucks when the government is too sissy to do so, is both sad and funny. Also, Wall-Mart is asking the government for higher minimum salary standards. It makes sense, but still is it sad to see to trend. 

Daily crono

Good day today. First, writing the proposal for the "small project" for systems architecture class. It took total 10 minutes. Then the SDM townhall, which was mostly focused on the systems architecture class. Some of my class-mates think the class is waste of time etc. I do not, I think it is the best class of all. But I am biased. Then, working on thesis with great results, having sushi for dinner, and later playing pool and having beer with class-mates. 
My new bicycle is definitely the best one I have ever had. It is just a road-bike with straight handlebar. It is very light, maybe 12 kg or so, very agile. And it does not look too expensive even though it is. The criminals should not be too interested in it. 

Monday, 2005-10-24

New laptop

I received my new iBook today. It is bit faster than the old one, has a bigger hard-drive, and the keyboard is better. And it has a fresh warranty for one year. I spent most of the afternoon and evening installing necessary extra SW on the new machine. 

The new iBook has BlueTooth. I could transfer pictures from my phone to my computer. Quite progressive. 

Kudos to Bush

Bush seems to have done a good nomination this time. He has nominated Ben S. Bernanke, the president's top economic adviser to succeed Greenspan. Bernanke served as a governor of the Federal Reserve Board, and has good academic credentials. 

Sunday, 2005-10-23

Another moral puzzle

Saturday's New York Times had an disturbing article. A woman gave birth to a child and the authorities took the child away right after birth. The reason is, that the father of the child (and husband of the woman) was convicted of raping two teenage girls in early 1980's. He served 10 years in prison and has now been free (and not committing crimes) for a years. The woman is ready to get a divorce, but the authorities say, that divorce will not help. So, the authorities have the child. 
The moral (and practical) puzzle is, whether criminal get back the civil rights after serving their sentence in prison. If not, does this apply to all criminals? Can some freed murderer have a child? What about someone guilty of manslaughter? Can bank robbers use banking services? Can some white-collar criminal return to the corporate world? Where is the line? Can a person, who have bombed abortion clinics be allowed near such a clinic in the future? Or near any medical facility? 
I think that once someone has served his sentence, he is free and as good a citizen as anyone. The task of the prison system is to try to change criminals, make the better citizen. The task of prison system is not so much to punish criminal. This is "liberal" way of seeing this, and there is the other way, too. 

A practical question 

There is a possibility of flu pandemic. Is it wise to cut the Medicare before the pandemic? Also, is it wise not to help poor people to heat their houses by cutting the heating subsidies? If people cannot heat their houses (due to low wages and high price of oil) and cannot get medical help, how can the pandemic be controlled? No matter how one calculates, the pandemic is much greater threat to the national security than Iraq, Iran, etc can even be. Should the state not use more money in preparing for the greater risk, and not waste money where there is no risk at all - or where spending money just increases the risk?

On white shirts (business attire) 

From the Genius of Japanese Civilization (1896) by Lafcadio Hearn (quoted by Rasmussen in Experiencing architecture)

Think for a moment how important an article of Occidental attire is the singly costly item of while shirts! Yet even the linen shirt, the so-called 'badge of a gentleman', is in itself a useless garment. It gives neither warmth nor comfort. It represents in our fashions the survival of something once a luxurious class distinction, to to-day meaningless and useless as the buttons sewn on the outside of the coat-sleeves.

And still the business attire contains this useless garment. Not to speak of the useless collar. 

Beware of crying babies 

From a email chain-letter:

9. Another Safety Point: Someone just told me that her friend heard a crying baby on her porch the night before last, and she called the police because it was late and she thought it was weird. The police told her "Whatever you do, DO NOT open the door."
The lady then said that it sounded like the baby had crawled near a window, and she was worried that it would crawl to the street and get run over. The policeman said, "We already have a unit on the way, whatever you do, DO NOT open the door." He told her that they think a serial killer has a baby's cry recorded and uses it to coax women out of their homes thinking that someone dropped off a baby. He said they have not verified it, but have had several calls by women saying that they hear baby's cries outside their doors when they're home alone at night.
Please pass this on and DO NOT open the door for a crying baby. This e-mail should probably be taken seriously because the Crying Baby theory was mentioned on America's Most Wanted this past Saturday when they profiled the serial killer in Louisiana.

Also, remember that 3. If you are ever thrown into the trunk of a car, kick out the back tail lights and stick your arm out the hole and start waving like crazy. The driver won't see you, but everybody else will. This has saved lives. and 6. ALWAYS take the elevator instead of the stairs. (Stairwells are horrible places to be alone and the perfect crime spot. This is especially true at NIGHT!) Yes, it is very dangerous to be outside the relative safety of your home. And here is another puzzle: it seems that the serial killers somehow thrive in USA. There have been some in ex-Soviet Union, in Britain, but otherwise I do not remember too many elsewhere. It may of course just be a media-bias. Is it? If it is real peculiarity of USA, what it the reason.
Read the whole warning letter. I find it more than a bit comical. 

Daily crono 

Lazy days, sleeping at least 11 hours a day. Yesterday, I went for lunch to the "Buddha's delight". It is excellent place: very authentic Chinese vegetarian food, a buffet (I need a substantial lunch), large table for reading newspapers, and they even allow me to take my bike inside, safe from the criminals. Later, buying clothes at H&M. They have no service and very long lines always. I assume they keep prices down by not having enough personnel. I also spent some time reading and observing people in the Espresso Royale. It is interesting how the American girls (and women) use their voice: when they try to be professional/serious, the pitch is very low, almost too low, like the men in car ads in TV. When they try to be feminine, cute, etc, the pitch is very high, almost piercing. And it can even change in mid-sentence. What a remarkable skill it is. 
Ilana threw a party at her home in Charlestown. She has a modern condo, with one bedroom. I went there with Pia and Kumar. We had good time with Ilana, her friends, Kevin, Maja, Yoav, Allison, Uday, Sam, Biju, Matt and others. 
Today, just hanging out, having lunch in Chinatown (always there, best food there), etc. Sending a few job-search related emails. 

Friday, 2005-10-21

The CEO-president does it again

According to WSJ today, Bush is defending his nomination of Ms. Miers to the Supreme Court. Now. since it has become apparent that she does not have the qualifications the job requires, Bush is saying he chose her exactly because of her lack of experience. No wonder his businesses were not that succesful in the past. I just wonder how many real CEOs could get away with defending someone they nominated this way.

Daily crono

After sleeping late, I wrote an email to other self-sponsored students about the coming SDM-career week, which will have at least 6 participating companies. It got a mixed response. Later,we had a nice talk about SW architecting in the systems architecting class. It is a pity that all/most SW-related students were worshipping Steve Ballmer (or how do you call Msoft's CEO?). Well, they can listen to the lecture later. After an entertaining Traffic Planning Class (in which I am now a listener), I went for a few beers with Marat. He gave me some good job search related advice. 
Short blog today. Nothing much to say today.

Thursday, 2005-10-20

Motto of the day: All I know is you got no money, but that got nothing to with having the good time - Sonic Youth

The Hitler-card 

The Hitler-card has been drawn: 14 principles of fascism and USA. Also Chomsky was talking of fascism, or the fascist behavior of the current administration. I am not sure. Decide for yourself. Maybe there is a reason to be worried. But if the article is true, and Chomsky too, how can we get rid of fascism this time? Maybe it collapses due to its internal inefficiencies and contradictions. I hope.

Success and satisfaction 

I did not get to the second round of interviews. It turned out that the test I took was actually a personality test, not a test about solving problems. The computer analyzed my result as "you would not have successful and personally satisfying career in our company". This lead me to think about success and personal satisfaction. They are related: one cannot have one without the other. Even if one is very successful in some job, but the job does not give personal satisfaction (e.g. is not hard enough, is too hierarchic, too well defined), the success will be very temporary. And without success there will definitely be no satisfaction. I agree with the computer analysis: I would not be personally satisfied in the company in question. I need more tactical/operational freedom, I need to be able to write documents, not just few slides for a larger set of slides. And I need real technical problem (very hard ones) to solve. And I need to be able to question the very basic of the ways of working. Otherwise I will be not that satisfied and thus not very productive. 
Which lead us to the important question. Can a talented systems architect ever work in strategy/management/business/technical consulting? If he can, what will happen? How long can he work there? Can his free and creative mind be tamed to some pre-defined solution templates? This is a question I will need to consider. I think Muller's writings about the personality of good architects suggest that the answer is quite simply NO. Let's see. 

On Apple 

So, Apple will send me a new iBook. I am happy to get the computer. I will be able to start working on my thesis, a set of journal articles on systems architecting, and write some PhD-applications. It will be fine. 

On wearing a suit 

Yesterday, I wore my tailored woolen suit for the interview. It felt good, I looked so handsome. I think I have nothing against wearing a suit as long as it is tailored and made either of wool or silk. But I have everything against wearing any types of collars (i.e. ties etc). Collar are for dogs and other obedient/submissive types. No collars for free spirits. 

Chomsky on democracy deficit 

Noam Chomsky gave a talk in MIT on Tuesday. His main message was: there is a huge democracy deficit in USA. He referred to several studies showing that the public is totally against the policies the current and past administrations have been pushing. For example, a very large majority of Americans support having a national (state-run) health care system (as in other industrial countries). We all know, that such a system would be cheaper and better. But, according to Chomsky, the current wasteful system benefits the big pharma and insurance companies (and others), so changing it is "politically impossible". Chomsky's advice for making USA a better/fairer/more liked by aliens is simple: let the public take part in formulating public policy. He says, that the public does not know, what the public thinks, as the polls are never published in the mainstream US-media. So, the trick is to promote awareness and build up a large social movement. 
If you want to know more, or take part in changing the system, check out Forum on American Progress. and, if you are in MIT, take part in their activities. I think I will. Being a-political for an extended period is bad for soul.

On having fun 

After learning about my unsuitability for one job, and also learning the randomness of the job application process, I have now decided not to worry about jobs. I will get one later. Now, from now to the end of January, I will just have fun. It might be, that I may not have as enjoyable situation for years afterwards. I will just take minimum amount of course, read and write as much I can, take long walks and rides, eat decently, drink if I feel like drinking, smoke if I feel like smoking, sleep as late as I feel, even until early afternoon. I have no worries naturally, I have just free time. Why should I gather artificial worries by e.g thinking about jobs, stressing over interviews, or worrying about money. It makes no sense at all! It feels so good now that I have realized all this. I am sure my blood pressure dropped at least 30 units in the last 4 hours. 

Wednesday, 2005-10-19

Apple gives a new iBook

I contacted Apple's media-relations (as suggested by S) and told them that if they do not replace my computer, I will spread bad karma far and wide. They took notice and decided to replace my machine. I will get in latest on Monday. The final explanation of what went wrong is as follows: FedEx has a "release of signature" for apartment 4C in my house. I assume they take it to be the whole house. This is what Apple says, and I do not actually care who is telling the truth now. I assume Apple is, since they give me a computer and will go after FedEx for some money. Whatever. I took way too long. The plus-side is that I will get a newer machine, which is faster and better. Maybe that was worth of 3 weeks wait. And now I will soon be out of excuses for not writing my thesis...

An interview

I went for an interview at Hotel Sheraton. First we had a intelligence/reasoning test, which I did, as I always do, way faster than required. I just cannot help myself. Then we had a few group exercises. Quite fun. I think I did reasonably well. I will get to know tomorrow, whether I will proceed to the second round of interviews. Exciting wait!

A moral puzzle

There is a somewhat large discussion (or scandal or whatever) because some of the people, who got money from the government after the hurricane Katarina destroyed their assets, are using some of the money on alcohol and frequenting strip clubs. What if they would use the money (same amount) on Belgian chocolate and frequenting the high-street theaters and operas? Would the public/yellow-press be so worried? And why does it matter that some poor fellow seeks some fun? I am sure that much bigger amounts of money are being shoveled to private accounts of Halliburton and other "reconstruction" companies. Cheap moralism, too easy. Even the yellow-press should do better. 

Tuesday, 2005-10-18

Another company 

I went to listen to the TMNG Strategy information session. It is a small strategic consultion company, which concentrates in the telecommunication industry. Rather interesting. I will apply for a job. Who knows? 
Some notes, though. TMNG presents all its analysis to their clients using PowerPoint slides. It seems, that they do not provide any real analysis documents. Strange. Also, they say, that "we have non-hierarchical organization and one can do whatever", while at the same time a new hire (analyst) may be allowed to compose a single slide to the presentation, and only later do a whole section. Well, maybe it is meritocracy, so to say. 
One thing I do not get in this consulting business. Based on today's presentation, very unexperienced consultants prapare slides for new business case for major corporations. The boards (??) then base their decisions on the slides. Why do they corporations need the consultants? Don't they have some entry-level people picking their noses in the basement? Why not use them? There is something strange going on here. Maybe some people in the corporations use consultants in pushing their own agendas. Or maybe the corporations are too full of bureacracy to do their own analysis. Using these consulting business seems to be quite risky, though. 

Msoft interview 

First of all, they do not have architect positions open for the outside applicants. And the Program Manager position is not for me at all, it is too simple. So, I think there is not a position for me. Then they asked a few technical questions. I did reasonably well, but not maybe as well as they would have liked me to do. Anyway, I think I got a nice first experience of taking an job interview in USA. I will do better next time.

Fun day coming 

Today is going to be fun. First I meet my thesis supervisor. I think I know what my thesis is going to be about, what chapters it has, and what is the main novelty I have invented. I am eager to see whether my ideas are in line with his. Then, I have a break, maybe I play some pinball (Simpsons, since Lord of the Rings is broken), and get ready (by having a coffee) for my very first job interview ever in USA. I think they have to sell their company and positions more than I have to sell my experience and skills. I am rather picky. Later, I may go to the TMNG's recruiting meeting, if I dare to go there with T-shirt and military-style green trousers. Why not? It is not an interview, and I already know that they are not interested in me: I sent an application by email and they did not respond. But who knows if they are able to change their minds. Whatever I do, I will finish the day by going to the gym, just to vent the accumulated joy/frustration.
And systems architecting rules still, mightily. Last night, with Kumar we came up with 6 new systems architecting principles, in 90 minutes. I have now invented/found/composed 23 principles. By the end of the semester, I may have 100 or more. Developing principles is really enjoyable, close to literature and philosophy, but with a very real empirical basis in professional experience. If I would sell my extra principles (sic!) for $100 each, I could pay half of my tuition. But of course I do not sell them; I would not dare to steal anyone the joy of finding their own principles. 

Kicking the guy on the ground 

As I wrote yesterday, GM is in deep trouble. Today's WSJ tells, that GM has agreed with UAW to cut the health-care benefits of unionized retirees by billions of dollars. I think this is not fair: I assume the retiree need more health-care services than those who are still working. And agreeing to cut benefits of others is too easy: the retired cannot come back and go on strike, take over union etc. 
This story has another moral as well. The health-care benefits of non-unionized retireers have been cut already long ago. So, the reason for existence of labor unions is as strong as ever. It is too sad that unions are not so much in vogue any more; even I, the bearded **ist, do not belong to any union. Maybe I should (start a modern union). 
At the same time, the Congress plans to cut the Medicare, energy support, and food stamps of the poorest. That would save $50 billion. Which is about the same as military spending of 40 days, or 82% of the planned tax cuts for the richest ($70 billion). Modern day Robin Hoods! I just wonder how long the citizens are going to take this? Or is this what the majority really wants? Anyway, even being potentially rich, I do worry about this: having too many guns around and huge income differences is a recipe of bad things happening. 

Monday, 2005-10-17

GM and Delphi 

Delphi is seeking for pay cuts (from $27 to $10) for its hourly workers. As Krugman points out, accepting this and similar pay cuts in other industries, will definitely destroy the American middle-class. After pay cut the GM, Ford, etc employees could not afford to buy cars they are building. So what, say the though guys. One of them wrote a week ago that since Boeing employees cannot buy airliners, GM employees should not being able to buy GM cars. Well, fair enough, but if GM employees cannot afford car, who will? Will the store clerk in Mall, will teachers? It is hard to keep economy running an growing while slashing salaries - entering a deflation is too easy, getting out of deflation is the trick. But, maybe it is not that important, maybe economy really does not matter, maybe only cultural things (abortion, porn, guns, and Islam) matter. Or something. If I were US citizen, I would start to worry a lot. Right now. 

The CEO-president 

Mr Bush said once that he is going to be a "CEO president". I guess he has misunderstood the job of the CEO. The job of the CEO is not to amass wealth to himself and to his friends, it is to see to that the shareholders get better interest for their capital in the company than they would get from bank. (one can argue, that companies have other social responsibilities, but that's communist BS as they say here). Also, the CEO should take care that the company survives in the future too. So, why is the CEO-president not advocating similar health-care system as Canada and European countries have? Why is the CEO-president wasting twice the money and getting half of the benefit by insisting on the broken system? How long would he survive as a real CEO if he would behave similarly in real corporate world?
Similar argumentation also in Krugman's column today. Also, check the news about GM's employees (UAW) taking benefit cuts. I calculated that GM is losing some $500 per car. If USA would have Canadian/European health-care (and retirement) system, GM would not have any problems. Very expensive ideology, indeed. 

Another interview 

Again, an invitation to an interview. Very nice, almost flattering. It seems, that some companies appreciate me, at least they consider me worth an interview. I appreciate such professional courtesy. 

Apple update 

Again, I got to listen to free iTunes-music from my iPod-Mega. Very nice African rhythms for an hour, enough to keep me from losing my temper. What's more, I was given so many opportunities to listen to different songs, while waiting to talk to the next computer. And they said "we appreciate your patience", which no real person has ever said to me in real life, face to face. I am so flattered. I also got to know, that the real person, a manager even, who is responsible for/handling my case is Scott Sellmon, His phone number is 512 674 2500, extension 48973 . So, if Apple ever loses your computer, you may skip the nice iTuning and appreciation of patience and call Scott directly. He does not answer, though. His voicemail tells, that he will answer after 2 business days (again, some patience is very much appreciated by Apple). If you do not call him often enough, and he has not dealt with your case in the last 30 days, you must go back to 1-800-apple and listen to a new selection of iTuning. 

On systems architecting 

Many of my class-mates do not like the systems architecting course. I, well, I like it almost too much. But where does this difference come from? I think one of the reasons is just differences in personal preferences of work, or problems to handle. I saw already in Nokia, that not every clever person is willing to do systems archictecting. So, I assume, that my class-mates know themselves well enough to realize, that they are never going to to do systems archictecting as lectured by Crawley (or Recting, or Muller). This is just fine. I think, that there are not very many persons in the world, who would have both the intellectual capabilities and personal characteristics required for working as a systems architect. The characteristics include at least: humble, but bold, curious, tolerating extreme level of unknown issues, willingness to dedicate years, or in some cases a decade in some archictecting effort, and extremely wide range of interests. A systems architect is a modern day Renessaince-person, one who has to know much about several fields, one who never stops learning new things of all the fields and systems he encounters. In addition, the systems architect has naturally very tense relation with the business management; many persons are not willing to take the challenge and risk. 
Anyway, I have really found my profession, the thing I really want to do, and the thing which I am somewhat good at doing. And I like to course so much, even the assignments are just fun. In fact, the assignment 3 was absolutely the best assignment I have done in MIT. It is just a pity, that the TAs spoiled the fun of some other class-mates by showing some example solutions. They should not: the fun is in thinking. And thinking about a framework for evaluating systems architectures is one of the most pleasant things one can do. I have spent so many blissful days thinking about it with my systems architect friends in Nokia. 

Sunday, 2005-10-16

I have to buy a new computer

I think I have to go and buy a new computer tomorrow. Most likely I will buy an iBook still, since it is such a good machine. Then when I get my other iBook, I will sell it. Or something. I just cannot get my thesis done without the computer, I cannot concentrate in here. It is just impossible. What a bad luck - and how poorly arranged and behaved can companies be. I am totally desperate. 

Criminals 

Criminals are roaming on the Beacon Street. Today they stole both Wall Street Journal and New York Times. Next week I will wake up early, get my paper, and replace it with old one with a nasty bomb inside. I will then laugh when the criminal loses his eyesight. Or then not. Maybe I just wake up and get the paper. And replace it with an old one with some rotten herrings inside. That would serve the criminals just right. 

I cannot work in computer classes 

It is way too noisy here. I think I have to go and buy a new laptop. Most likely not a Apple anymore. Maybe some small one, which is known to work well with Linux. Suggestions are welcome. This situation is endangering my graduation, if I cannot find a quiet place for writing my thesis. Not good. 
Apple customer service is the worst joke in this continent. (I hope google lists this)

Books 

MIT press bookstore had their yearly sale. I bought 18 books:

1. Working in America Paul Osterman etc 
2. Coal by Barbara Freese
3. Democaracy's dilemma by Robert Paehlke 
4. The cyborg, self, and the networked city  by William Mitchell
5. E-topia by William Mitchell 
6. The science of the mind by Owen Flanagan 
7. Techology in world civilization by Arnold Pacey 
8. Ideas than shaped buildings by Fil Hearn 
9. Cybernetics by Norbert Wiener
10. Experiencing Architecture by Steen Rasmussen 
11. The Automobile Age by Flink 
12. Complete walker 10 by Fletcher 
13. High price of materialism  by Kasser 
14. Energy at crossroads by Smil 
15. Feeding the world by Smil 
16. The Russian military by Miller &ammp; Tremin
17. Building Stata by Joyce 
18. A history of modern computing by Ceruzzi 

A civilized person has the duty of rescuing good books. I spent $100 in fulfilling mine.

Music 

We went to a concert by the Avett Brothers in Fall River yesterday. The band was much better than it was in August. Avett Brothers is definitely one of the best live bands I have ever seen. Fall River seems to be an interesting place, well worth a day-trip later. It used to be the center of cotton-mills in USA before 1920s, when its fortunes failed. Now it is getting back to its feet, or so they say in their website. There are many romantic old red-brick factories and warehouse. I will definitely go there again later.

Saturday, 2005-10-15

Boot camps? 

"Boot camp" is a very common term here in USA. It means doing something very intensively, having someone else control the schedule, sleeping little, and in essence giving up one's own control over one's life/thoughts/actions for some time. Of course, the idea comes from military, where they use it (I assume) in breaking up the will of recruits (and in making them exercise enough to get fit). 
Since the whole society is rather militarist (as measured by military metaphors, naked admiration of soldiers, imitation of leadership (and submission) methods from the military), boot camps are springing up like mushrooms in the rain. Today's Wall Street Journal runs a story of a new fitness boot camp for busy Wall Street executives. The camp is run by Iraq-veterans. They pick the participants/clients from their homes at 5am, take them somewhere where the clients are forced to exercise. If they fail to do something, they are shouted at, curses at, etc, just like in the real army. If a client skips a session (like hiding in a closet when the soldiers come in the morning), the soldiers will appear at the workplace and require an explanation (and, of course, shout and curse while doing so). 
According to one client/participant : " I cannot imagine anything more motivating than having a soldier shout at me." People are different: I read somewhere that the BSDM dungeons also draw their clientele from executive circles. 
But there are boot camps for unemployed white-collar people as well. Barbara Ehrenreich tells a story about them in her new book Bait and switch. The idea is the same: not even unemployed should enjoy free time. It is much better to have a boss even when not having a job. 
You can read the article on-line by registering for a free trial at WSJ. 

Rain 

It has been raining for 24 or more hours continuosly. Some people have even died in floods in New Jersey. New York's Central Park has received 31 cm rain during the last 7 days. 

Friday, 2005-10-14

Human experiment continues 

My experiment on changing to permanent night shift continues. Results are so far a bit mixed. I like to stay up late, and I get some things done late at night (very early in the morning). I like to cycle home late, Boston's skyline is beautiful and streets are quiet. I like to wake up late and go cycling (but it is raining, which is not the way I would like things to be). But there are some problems: I find it hard to sleep 7-8 hours per night; I wake up at 6 hours. And having just 6 hours of sleep per night several night in a row, hmm, makes me sleepy. And then there are always some things that require me to wake up early, and thus mess up my experiment. I will continue for one or two weeks more and then decide whether the common or nerdy rhythm of life suits me best. Any ideas/experiences?

Thesis colloquium starting 

The first even SDM thesis colloquium takes place tomorrow (15th of October) at 3 pm. I will talk about my thesis, or whatever I know about it right now. When putting together slides for the talk, I realized that I do not really know as much as I thought I do. But, talking to others will be a good opportunity to clarify my thoughts and also get some good ideas and feedback. 

Busy day

Having courses keeps one busy. I have courses on Friday from 12 noon to 5pm. Before courses I sent a fax to Apple telling them to give me a new computer or else. They will not read it anyway, but it helped me to vent my frustration. Then, an excellent lecture on systems architecture of some new type of airliners. Very interesting and pure fun. Later, some more fun in the urban transport class: a lecture on modeling traffic. Now, back in the attic room trying to get still something done. I have 2 liters of Dr Pepper, which should keep me going for a while. 
My Wall Street Journal was wet when I got it. I read some of it though. Interesting newspaper it is, well worth reading over lunch daily. Too bad that my free subscription lasts only 30 days. 

Bad engineering 

There are (almost) no separate wheel-chair accessible toilets in USA ( or:MIT, Boston, New York). Instead, there are larger compartments for wheel-chair users (and impostors) in normal toilets. The locking mechanism is usually broken, because they use just normal hinges for the the doors of those compartment. Since the doors are two times wider than those of normal compartments, either the hinges bend, or the joint between hinge and door frame gives away, or the door frame (think wooden plank) bends. Anyway, one cannot lock the door. So much for outstanding engineering education in USA. 

Bad forgery 

The letter "written by al-Qaeda's number two-man" is 

a forgery. Most likely it is a black psy-ops operation of the US. But it could also come from Iran, since the mistakes are those a Shiite might make when pretending to be a Sunni. Or it could come from an Iraqi Shiite group attempting to manipulate the United States.

at least according to Juan Cole. It seems to be a poor forgery: written in language the number two man would never use. If it is by USA, I would recommend hiring some not so ethically conscious Juan Cole to write the next one. If it is by the Iranian government, I would assume US government to do something: or do they want to be manipulated. 

Thursday, 2005-10-13

Motto of the day: Trying to lay blame at customer's door is not very good customer service. - as evidenced by the abysmal customer service quality of Apple. 

Systems architecting 

I decided, that even though I do not have my own computer, and I have to stay here in the computer cluster, I need to get something done. So, I got totally immersed in the wonderful world of systems architecting. I used way too many delightful and happy hours thinking about how to evaluate systems architectures. I took Crawley's ideas as my starting point, organized them in some sensible order (great ideas, but scattered around his slides) and then added whatever I could think of. I took 6 hours, but now I have a very solid framework for doing the evaluation. It will get better every day, but even now it is a very valuable tool - maybe I get a job in which I can use it. I have to say, using American English, that I just love systems architecting. It is such a nice mixed field of art and science, engineering and philosophy. There are many who complain about the course, but I think it is definitely the best course we have had, has the deepest content, and gives most new things to think of from very surprising points of view. Especially, when I always compare Crawley's ideas with my own experience, with Rechtin's, with Muller's, with Simon's, and many others. Then I can synthesize something, which is usually new to me (at least). Great, pure intellectual fun. So nice. And now, after dropping the Ethics course, I have actually 6.5 days per week to think about systems architecting. Life could not get much better (on the intellectual side).

Things and their importance 

Of course, just losing a computer is not that important. I just get fixated on small issues sometimes, especially when I have some stress. Maybe I now forget the computer and start ranting about, say, climate change. Have you noticed than the oil companies (Chevron) are advertising for saving fuel? Today's Wall Street Journal has one-page ad by Chevron urging drivers drive 55 mph instead of 65 and thus saving 1 million barrels per day (or something). Interesting. So, not only Beyond Petroleum and Shell are waking up to the fact that their assets are declining.

Still on Apple and FedEx 

Yep. It maybe that both FedEx and Apple are not telling the truth. It may just be that the persons I talked to just wanted to get rid off me and promised, that they would call me on Monday. Maybe they will not. Since they do not have any authority/responsibility, they just tried to calm me down. Maybe I need to talk to their superiors or someone even higher up. I think here is one profound cultural difference: in Finland, employees have some authority and they are not just answering machines. Customer service can even serve customer, not just listen and console. In USA, nobody cares if caring is not their job, as defined and measured in the next performance review. This is really bad thing, terrible attitude, robs employees any pride they might have in their work. No wonder everything is so f*ed up. I am really infuriated: this behaviour of Apple and FedEx is against any civilized manner and professional conduct. Why do they even bother to have customer service in the first place? Why not just give a phonenumber, which would say that everyone is busy and play some nice music for days, if someone is patient enough to listen to? Tell me? 

An update on Apple and FedEx

I called Apple Customer. I got to talk a man there. He insisted, that since Apple has sent it by FedEx and Apple's records show that there is "signature waiver on file" for my house (due to some other tenant having granted such or something, I could not figure), Apple has no responsibility of my computer and they will most likely not give me a new one. Instead, I should talk to FedEx. Of course, I knew this guy was not telling the truth (what does it tell about Apple, well, decide for yourself). I got curious and called FedEx. There I got to talk to a very friendly woman, who told me that no such thing as "signature waiver on file" exist. What has happened in reality, is that Apple has not checked the "signature required"-box, when they shipped my computer. If the box is not checked, FedEx deliveres on the street (so their rules say). So, it really seemed that Apple was trying to shift the responsibility. So, I called Apple again. This time I got to talk to a woman, who was not insisting on the non-existent "signature waiver on file". She could not really help me. All she could say was "Apple logistics team is still investigating this with FedEx and will call you on Monday". Funny that it takes them so long, as I could figure it all out just by calling FedEx customer service. Maybe they do not have phones at Apple logistic team premises or something. 
So, I lay the blame at Apple's door. FedEx has done its jobs as it should, which may be weird, but not wrong. 
Next this to do is to send an email to some high-up boss in Apple and ask for some money for all the time I have wasted. 

Apple and FedEx. HELP ME! 

Please, help me with dealing with Apple and FedEx! It is now 3 weeks since I took my laptop of service. 2 weeks since FedEx delivered it somewhere outside my house in Beacon Street. I went to AppleStore again today. They do not know anything. They say they will call somewhere and try to find who is responsible for losing my laptop. Apparently the only place they can call is the Apple Helpline, which has more than 1 hour queuing time. So, now some Apple worker is waiting to talk to some Apple worker and neither of them knows anything.
I just cannot understand how this can be so hard. In Finland, in such a case, they would just give me a new laptop and they sort out things with FedEx later. Not here, here nobody has any authority to anything. How bad can customer service be? How much contempt can they have on their customers? I like Apple computers, but after this disaster I will certainly advice all my friends against buying a single product from Apple. Having good products is not enough. One should have some level of respect of customers and some level of customer service and flexibility and common sense. 
I would appreciate any ideas how to proceed. Shall I call a lawyer and sue Apple? Shall I try to find some manager in AppleStore or Apple in general, who would have some authority? Shall I just send a bill to Apple for all the time I have now lost? Shall I send rotten herrings to some Apple manager with a note that they s**k big time? Please help me!

The "Mane the Mean" diet 

Here is a mean diet for fat people. It is simple. First, do not have any tempting food at home. At most, have some not-so-good-tasting whole grain toast and some tomato-stuffing to go with it. Do not buy any juices etc. You will also save a lot of time, since you do not have to visit shops weekly. Second eat out as much you like. Especially, eat Thai and Chinese food: rice and some source of proteing. Eat some chocolate, but only dark one. Third, have some exercise. At least 3 hours fast cycling per week and 3 times 1 hour at the gym, with no breaks between gym exercise. Fourth, send the money you save to me. 
Should I write a book, film a DVD, and have some well-being sessions (well being for my bank account, that is). I could get lean and rich!

Wednesday, 2005-10-12

Motto of the day: Decrease complexity, increase effectivity, maintain sanity! (from some server-HW advertisement) 

I got an interview! 

What a surprise! I got an invitation to a real job-interview. I am not a total outcast. I am really happy about the interview. I intend to do my best, which means that I will just be myself. Anyway, I will be myself when I get the job - I cannot play any role for any longer period, so I assume it is better not to start. The interview is the normal stuff, which we had in Nokia as well: some kind of multiple-choice IQ-test, some supervised group work. Fortunately, no non-scientific personality tests this time.
No, I will not tell the name of the company. Just to make all my readers curious. 

Newspapers and magazines 

I got my first Wall Street Journal today. I even read it for 10 minutes. Seems to be a bit more conservative than NY times, but maybe it is good to know both sides of arguments. 
I subscribe to the following newspapers and magazines: NY Times (on Saturdays and Sundays), WSJ, Guardian Weekly, Le Monde Diplomatique, New Internationalist, Foreign Affairs, Arthur, and Granta. I used to subscribe to other magazines, but I had to cut them down due to limited (time and money) budget this year. Unfortunately. 

Daily crono 

Maybe it is so that I cannot really work many days in a row, or that having two similar days in a row makes me stop having them. Anyway, today has been different. I cycled for one hour in the morning (autumn is here, 10C, just having shorts and T-shirt on starts to be a bit extreme), had lunch with Kumar, went to the Ethics-class (which I am likely to drop soon, I do not find enough interest in it), then met Pia Hannukainen, who has just arrived in MIT to do her PhD-research here. It was nice to talk a Finn, to compare experiences, and to realize that there really are some Finnish/European traits, which are distinctly different from American ones. Later, Urban transport presentation with Giorgia (she talked, I just changed slides), and then idling. No progress with theses today.

Tuesday, 2005-10-11

Motto of the day: ""What matters most is how well you walk through the fire." Charles Bukowski .

How to ask questions in job interview 

One would think, that asking questions and answering them (i.e. discussing) would be something we all can do. But no, it is not that simple. For example, there are strict rules on how to task questions during job interview. This sounds silly, of course, but it is not. We have to remember, that, according to many recruiting sites and Ehrenreich's book, the interviewers are not so much looking for the best possible employees. Rather they are looking for people whom they like. So, likeability is the key, and thus it is very important to ask right questions with right words. Well, this whole job search/interview/whatnot business is really getting out of hand here in USA. 

How to get fired 

Here is how to get fired, at least if one is an administrative assistant. I especially like this one:

Make Faces: Be conscious of your facial expressions; you may not realize how you can be saying one thing while your face could be saying something else. "I had a client who was given a bad review and was ultimately fired for rolling his eyes in staff meetings," Star says.

Also, this is interesting

"Spending much of your work time orchestrating your own personal business, rather than your boss's affairs, usually results in being given an opportunity to spend all of your time on the phone on personal business -- looking for a new job," Star warns.

especially considering the two meanings of the word "affairs". However, it is not good to get too much involved in "boss's affairs"

Become Romantically Involved with the Boss: While it may make for great water-cooler discussion, a boss/direct-report romance can easily end with someone out of a job. (Hint: It's usually not the boss.)

I have to say I definitely learn important things here in MIT every day. 

Teaching systems architecture

I wrote this yesterday. I think it makes sense. 

Knowing history and understanding previous systems is as important for systems architects as it is for civil architect. Since the profession of systems architecting is still very young, at least when compared to civil architecting, there is no established curriculum of history of systems architecting. There are some books and some articles, but there are no course on the history of systems architecting or systems architectures. Building such an curriculum is much harder in systems architecting than in civil architecting, because many systems are either secret (completely) or their architecture is secret. It is very hard, and in many cases impossible - especially with embedded systems -, to find out the systems architecture of a system just by looking at it. In civil architecture, looking at a building, or just set of pictures of it, is enough to give an understanding of the architecture. 
In order to be able to educate better systems architects, and to really build up a profession, the systems architecting community should start project in documenting the history of systems architecting. In addition, the community should develop a series of case studies, in the way management community has been doing for a long time. Furthermore, the community should codify the best practices, and systems architecting methods in design tools and related conceptual frameworks. 
In terms of MIT, this would mean increasing resources in researching and teaching systems architecting. Since all engineering departments build large systems, the systems architecting research center should have faculty and students from many, if not all, departments. Thus, it would fit quite well in ESD, but in order to research the history, STS should be strongly involved.

What do you think?

Nerdy life 

It is now 2am. I am still in the Athena-cluster in the Student Center. It was rather quite at midnight, but after 1am more students came in. Now there is maybe 10 students here and one policeman. The police is leaving and so am I. I got quite far today. In addition to working on my thesis (60% of it is now ready in my head - I just have to let it come out and organize it in a coherent story, which is no big deal), I wrote a case summary of last Friday's SA-class. It was a good thing to do, I learned a lot and came to think about some things I had never really thought about. No waste of time was it. 
Let's see whether staying up until 3am or 4am and then sleeping 7 hours is a good idea. I think it is, as long as I do not have anything to do in the morning. 

Monday, 2005-10-10

Rant 

From an job ad I received by email

We offer a progressive range of benefits which include paid vacations, holidays and a medical/dental/vision plan among many other great benefits.

This would be funny, if it were not so sad. It is so sad, that this country cannot provide job-independent common health care system for its citizens (it would be cheaper and better, but, of course, no idealogy is free, some are extremely expensive). Also, I think having paid vacations/holidays is more or less universal right. Even in China they have them, and in Europe, they have 4 or more weeks per years. This ad, and other as well, make me think that the whole political progress of the last 150 years has somehow been wasted. But then, if there are desperate persons, who want to spend all their adult lifes in the office, who am I to tell them not to. 

Strange things 

Some strange things:

• If the -up-escalator breaks, the down-escalator is never reversed. So, everyone has to climb up, but can take the escalator down. It may be, that nobody with sufficient authority to reverse the escalator is present, never.
• Having "Caution - wet surface" yellow triangles every 15 meters in dry corridors. Just in case it might rain inside. I also saw one in an elevator. It was hanging from the wall. 
• A sign saying "No passengers are allowed on the platform" on the door leading to the platfrom, from where the busses leave. Hard to get to the bus...
• A sign saying "Nobody is allowed to step beyond the yellow line for security purposes" on the above mentioned platform. Maybe an area reserved for dangerous activities? Like placing bombs?

Sunday 

I visited New York to meet Peter Elk yesterday. I also met his wife Anna. It was nice to meet a Finnish fellow-blogger and discuss on USA, life, sturdies, politics, etc. Visiting New York means sitting 8 hours in a bus, which is quite enough for reading one or two books. I read parts on Mandelbrot's book on economics and the whole Ehrenreich's "Bait and Switch". It seems, that there is something really badly wrong in the US job market. More later, but I wonder the emphasis on networking, or hiring only people whom the hirer knows already. It is not in the interests of the shareholders, since no hiring manager can know all the possible candidates: most likely hiring only already familiar persons results in hiring not the best available ones. 

Saturday, 2005-10-08

The great hissing sound 

Last night, I was relaxing on my sofa reading the Guardian Weekly when I heard a great hissing sound. First I though, that real estate bubble had finally bursted and I could buy a flat. But then I realized, that it was just my bicycle's back tire, which somehow let all air out. What a disappointment. 

A tempting job! 

How about this job? I got the information via NY Times job alert.

80+ servers are approximately one year out-of-date on OS-level patching. Responsible for top-tier troubleshooting and authoritative resolution of server problems. Provide assistance with resolution of work items brought to the help desk as needed (advanced troubles and coverflow work items) Proactively monitor server logs for potential hardware, software, OS, or security problems. Support the setup and maintenance of some automated desktop software distribution and patching through use of SUS and/or GPO. Secondary: Infrastructure Upgrade and Transition to Windows/Exchange 2003 architecture Directly involved with the redesign of Active Directory and server infrastructure consolidation. Make appropriate adjustments to the Active Directory structure Redesign/architect a more efficient and less complicated WINS, Windows DNS, and inter-site replication schemes. The current arrangement was based on business in 2002/2003.

What a challenging task! A company, which has not maintained their Windows-environment for a year. And even then the system was too complicated. The job would pay $50 per hour. Somehow, this company somehow does not seem too trustworthy or well managed.

Daily crono 

I cannot rest. Whenever I take time off (even a day, or weeks for vacation), I can only sleep, drink, or get very bored and irritated. I did not drink today. I think I have been unfair in dissing those, who work 60 hours or more per week. I need to work even more, or else I will be just a pain in the part of the body for everyone I know. I should not take a rest, at least I should not plan and take a rest. Rest has to be spontaneous. 
I had a very nice lunch in a Greek restaurant in the corner of Newbury and Hereford. Then, I decided that I definitely need more music by Motorhead to keep me creative and up to speed. After buying records, I tried to calm myself by taking the tram to the airport, but I got bored at Government Center and came back home. You see, taking a day off is not for me. Later, I was about to go to the gym, but I was late. I closes at 9pm on Saturdays. Pity.
I may go to New York tomorrow. I think visiting NYC once a month would be a decent thing to do. It gives me 8 hours time to read in the bus, which is good. And I can have nice food down there and maybe even see some art. Or just take the subway to Coney Island or some other faraway place. 

Friday, 2005-10-07

Ugh, the big chief has spoken

Bush spoke, but not the truth. At least, Juan Cole says so. But what does he know? Or does he? Is it OK for a president to lie? To speak pure propaganda? Whateve. It is very scary. Read Cole's analysis and decide for yourself. 

The end of the world as we know it? 

Now, it is really getting serious. The likelyhood, that we have already passed the point of no return of global warming is quite large. The polar icesheets are melting away fast. This could raise the sealevel by several meters, which would, e.g flood much of, well, many cities and countries. See this A HREF="http://tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?pid=27240">article (at the end of it). The article also makes a good point that may 1% of the money so far wasted in vain in Iraq would have been enough to prepare USA for the possible global pandemic. But, of course, fighting flu is not so profitable as fighting, well, aliens. 

Laptop really lost 

My bad luck is getting worse. I did not hear from Apple today. So, I cycled again to Cambridge Side Mall to ask whether they knew anything new about the whereabouts of my laptop. Indeed, they did. It turned out, that Apple had used FedEx to ship my laptop to my home. Well, that is quite OK. What is not OK at all is that, according to the info Apple has, FedEx has delivered the laptop at my front door (yes, up the stairs on Beacon Street) at 1.32 pm on the 30th of September - a week ago. I came back home at 1am on the 1st of October and did not find my laptop. Quite a surprise, one would think. What is more surprising is the fact that Apple sent laptop with explicit requirement for recipient signature. But FedEx now claims to have had a waiver for having the signature. So, it really seems that they have really delivered the laptop on the stairs. How f***ed up can a business behave? Well, if there is anything good in the situation, it is that I will most likely get a new laptop. I just hope getting the new laptop does not take too long - nothing like the 6+ months it took to get the new bicycle when Air France destroyed the old one.
I just cannot understand why I have all this bad luck? Did I remember to tell, that my refridgerator broke down. Yes, the landlord will get me a new one, soon as he says. I just wonder what happens next! This is getting a bit scary... (or then not, just rare occasion happening at the same time, it is possible)
Anyway, it seems that I have to write my thesis here in the Athena-cluster after all. I just have to get used to the idea of working here. 

Daily crono 

A recruiter (or head hunter) woke me up today. I asked her to call back in one hour. She did not. Should I care? Most likely she was not seriously wanting to talk to me - she would have called if she were. I cycled to MIT, had lunch with Kumar, attended the System architecture class (Steve Imrich lectured, and well, on civil architecture), then the Urban Transport planning class (F.P. Salvucci told the story of Boston transport since 1950s. Very interesting. Afterwards, I discussed with Giorgia on the next assignment, etc. Whatever. Interesting day. Not an totally ordinary one.

Thursday, 2005-10-06

How to impress people at work?

From Monstertack, advice for recent graduates from MIT:

"Come in early and stay late," says Stephen Viscusi, author of On the Job: How to Make It in the Real World of Work and a frequent workplace contributor on ABC's "Good Morning America." "You should be busy whenever you're starting a new job, learning the ropes, but even when you're not, perfect the art of looking busy."

Well, there was this French lady who wrote a whole book about how look busy for years without doing nothing. Maybe theys should provide a copy for everyone at MIT and elsewhere? Needless to say, I guess, but I do find this kind of advice both counterproductive and insane and dangerous. If there is nothing to do, just get out of there! 

Cycling 

Again, cycling in the morning, having mediterranean rice with canned fish for lunch. During lunch, I got some superb ideas for my thesis. Now I really know what to do, and how to really make a difference. I can even write some journal articles later. It will a) be good and b) the first draft will be ready by the 31st of October. Writing thesis is such a lonely and boring task, that I have to finish it as soon as possible. Then I could do something else, for example, write some journal articles, take dozens of jobs interviews, drink beer, or just sleep. Let's see. 

Laptop lost

Apple sent me my laptop on last Friday and promised, that I will get it in 2 business days. Either business days are getting longer (imaging: people could work for 130hours a week in consulting companies, what a productivity boost that would be; also imagine how much better USA would be when compared to the lazy French, for example) or the computer is lost. I think it is the latter. At least they do not know in the Applestore where my laptop is. They promisend to look for it though. 

Wednesday, 2005-10-05

Hmm, interesting company found

I participated in an open house meeting at Endeca.com. Seems to be an interesting company, very nice people (everyone I met all the way down from founder/chairman to SW engineers and various directors. They make a system, which helps users to find and manage information stored in databases. Especially I liked to talk to their Director of Research, with whom I immediately found a common language. Let's see, whether we (me and Endeca) will find any real common interests. At the moment, I am positive that there would be value to both parties If they would hire me. But, time will show. 

17 system architecting principles found 

I have now found 17 system architecting principles. We need to write at most 15 for the SA-class, so I am all set already. Not that I am procrastinating doing my thesis...

Cycling 

I have mostly been cycling (1 hour or more before noon), hanging out at MIT (and pretending to something, such as SA assignments, Ethics paper, and debating in the Urban Transport class). I also have bene thinking about complexity a lot, but I have not managed to write much. I cannot write in the Athena cluster. It is too noisy there, too much distracting interruptions. Bad, I need my laptop back soon. I think Apple's customer service is bad - it takes too long to fix the computer. 
Exercise so far this week: On Tuesday: cycling for 1 hour and 45 minutes of gym exercise. On Wed: cycling for 1 hours. Feeling: great. Surprisinly my old clothes fit me again. Exercise pays off even financially.
I got Barbara Ehrenreich's new book "Bait and switch" today in mail. It is a story about what happen when she went undercover and tried to get a white-collar job. I will tell more later. 

Monday, 2005-10-03

Back in business 

Now, I feel that my ability to study has come back again. I have been so full of energy. It may, though, be just because if have been doing homework, not my thesis. Anyway, I haver done a lot (first with Bill and Wilfried some work on Systems Architecture - even interviewing Mr. Finni, a system architect and our mentor), then working on my System Architecting principles (I wrote 6 of them and then one more later), then meeting my Ethics group (Sara, Sandra, and Dennis) and drafting our first team paper, which I wrote later in the evening. Etc, etc. Fun. Still to do at 9pm: read some papers for the Traffic-course tomorrow. So that I will have time for thesis as well.
No exercise today. I guess I have to rest sometimes. But the problem with exercise came up again. Cycling a lot causes constant hunger. I just cannot eat enough. Would be OK otherwise, but I am fed up with the stuff, which is easily available in the student center late in the evening. I cannot eat a single burrito any more. 
That's it. Oh, I tried to participate in one recruiting meeting, but I could not find it. There seems to be a reason for not getting a job. I guess.

Sunday, 2005-10-02

Motto of the day.

Non est, crede mihi, sapientis dicere "Vivam." Sera nimis vita est crastina: vive hodie. or Believe me, "I shall live" is not the saying of a wise man. Tomorrow's life is too late: live today. Do not wait for the next job, for bigger house, for retirement. 

A great bicycle ride

It was not exactly cold and cloudy today. The possibility of a decent ride was too beckoning and I figured that there will be enough rainy days for doing thesis and other sun-sensitive things. I decided to ride the to Blue Hill National Park. Maybe I could see something new, maybe even some wildlife (yes, I saw too chipmunks or that the small squirrels are called). 
The route: Clarendon - Tremont - Mass Av (really decadent half-abandoned industrial areas) - Dorchester Av (in the beginning very Asian, getting wealthier and cleaner further south) - Milton (beautiful, old, red-brick factories by a stream) - Randolf Av (2+2 lane avanue through the reservation area) - Hillside Street (extremely upscale mansion in the middle of forest, very bad road surface, horses, chipmunks, birds, forest, steep uphill) - Unoquity road (nice, steep downhill, not many houses) - Blue Hills parkway (rather upscale, wide bulevard (?) ) - Cummins highway (again, much poorer, shops, car lots ) - American legion highway - Mt Hope - Bradstreet avenue (Mirja and Milton were not at home) - Hyde Park Avenue (too narrow, rude car drivers honking) - Washington Street (nice again, lively, narrow, slow traffic) - Columbus avenue (bad road surface) - Tremont - Dartmouth. Total time 2 hours, total distance maybe 40 km, not much more anyway. Certainly a very nice route, which I will definitely ride again later, maybe with a bit different return leg.

Idling 

Otherwise today: reading NY times, (cycling), idling at home, coming to MIT to use computer, later meeting with Matt, Vaynu, and Jayraj in the SDM-office.
Last night, I went with Kumar for a dinner to Chinatown. We found a new place. It is called Taiwan Cafe and they serve very good Taiwanese food. Address is 34 Oxford Street. Certainly a place to return to later.

Saturday, 2005-10-01

A cycling etc blog from H2Otown

Definitely a blog to read regularly. I cycle to Watertown every now and then. It is a nice ride up the river and back next to Mt Auburn cemetery. Takes soem 50 minutes, which is decent in the early morning if I have something else to do later in the morning. Another site worth seeing in Watertown is the local UPS-distribution center. Quite a facility and watching the ugly trucks leaving and returning their nest is just as fun as lookin some wildlife. Like rhinos. They seems exactly as intelligent, too. 
I am interested in other local blogs. If you know a good/interesting one, please let me know by leaving a comment. Thanks!

On retirement & life

In NY Times today: "Retirement is the time to live the life you choose". I wonder who is choosing the life I live now? Why does he/she stop choosing when I retire? Why should I wait until I am 65 years old before I can choose what kind of life I want to live. There is too much tradition obeying, too much propaganda. Too little real freedom to live as one likes, or then too few brave souls, who are ready to pay the price of freedom. It is so much easier to not to choose, and let others dictate what to do, what to think, how to live. 

Cycling

Boston is a great place for cycling. There are so many interesting roads to explore, so many nice parks to drive through, so many nice cemeteries to see. And the amount of traffic is almost neglible, especially if one uses some common sense. All this make cycling pure fun. And since the geography is quite simple, it is possible just to leave the map at home, start at some direction, take always the most interesting road, while at the same time knowing one's approximate location. It is almost impossible to get lost, really lost, in Boston. It is a pity, that most locals are too afraid of nothing and dare not cycle. 
All opinions are mine and do not reflect opinions etc of my current or future employers as far as I am aware. Similarly, all opinions on SDM at MIT are mine only. The official at SDM-homepage gives the other view.

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