Cyril's Gleans

gleans at 6:00 PM MT, 11/28

Sign Language: week 76

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/picturegalleries/signlanguage/6662613/Sign-Language-week-76.html

No joke: Reviewing the best fruitcakes

http://www.consumersearch.com/blog/getting-fruity?sms_ss=email

Paul Reynolds of BBC News Online says that the special relationship between the US and UK might be seen as a historical anomaly.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8382384.stm

BBC Radio 4 is reviewing its programming in an attempt to increase its appeal to ethnic minorities following criticism that it is 'too white'.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/6678051/BBC-to-review-too-white-Radio-4.html

FORT POLK, La. — A firefight with heavily armed insurgents near a gold-domed mosque. A helicopter evacuation of bloody car bomb victims. A meeting with tribal elders upset about security.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/29/us/29training.html?_r=1&hp

Wines, With Notes of M.B.A.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/29/business/29wine.html?hpw

Over 60, and Proud to Join the Digerati

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/29/jobs/29pre.html?hpw

Please Mr. Postman

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/29/books/review/Schiff-t.html?hpw

lagniappe

On Growing Old
John Masefield

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Masefield

Be with me, Beauty, for the fire is dying;
My dog and I are old, too old for roving.
Man, whose young passion sets the spindrift flying,
Is soon too lame to march, too cold for loving.
I take the book and gather to the fire,
Turning old yellow leaves; minute by minute
The clock ticks to my heart. A withered wire,
Moves a thin ghost of music in the spinet.
I cannot sail your seas, I cannot wander
Your cornland, nor your hill-land, nor your valleys
Ever again, nore share the battle yonder
Where the young knight the broken squadron rallies.
Only stay quiet while my mind remembers
The beauty of fire from the beauty of embers.
Beauty, have pity! for the strong have power,
The rich their wealth, the beautiful their grace,
Summer of man its sunlight and its flower.
Spring-time of man, all April in a face.
Only, as in the jostling in the Strand,
Where the mob thrusts, or loiters, or is loud,
The beggar with the saucer in his hand
Asks only a penny from the passing crowd,
So, from this glittering world with all its fashion,
Its fire, and play of men, its stir, its march,
Let me have wisdom, Beauty, wisdom and passion,
Bread to the soul, rain when the summers parch.
Give me but these, and though the darkness close
Even the night will blossom as the rose.

gleans at 9:55 AM MT, 11/27

L’Esprit de Geometrie et L’Esprit de Finesse

Yes, we are all
By gin or thought
Distraught.
The violence of reason rules
The subtle Schools;
A dependent clause can curl yer cowl.

I know such men
Of strange conclusions.
Martinis
Cold as the serpent and as wise
Have unfocused my eyes.
Their icy depths have moved my pen.

~apologies to J. V. Cunningham

Pirelli Calendar 2010: Lily Cole, Daisy Lowe and Marloes Horst photographed by Terry Richardson

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/picturegalleries/6608654/Pirelli-Calendar-2010-Lily-Cole-Daisy-Lowe-and-Marloes-Horst-photographed-by-Terry-Richardson.html

The 2010 Ava Gardner Museum Calendar is $10.00 and is available for purchase in the Museum Gift Shop or through phone orders. ...

http://www.avagardner.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=98:2010-ava-gardner-calendar-now-available&catid=3:newsflash&Itemid=59

The Mission, The Men, and Me: Lessons from a Former Delta Force Commander - Pete Blaber; Hardcover

http://www.amazon.com/Mission-Men-Me-Lessons-Commander/dp/0425223728/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259338717&sr=1-1

The Maverick and His Machine – Maney

http://www.amazon.com/Maverick-His-Machine-Thomas-Watson/dp/0471679259/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259340618&sr=1-1

A Passion for Wisdom: A Very Brief History of Philosophy - Robert C. Solomon; Paperback

http://www.amazon.com/Passion-Wisdom-Brief-History-Philosophy/dp/0195112091/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259338914&sr=1-1

The Top 500 Poems - William Harmon; Hardcover

http://www.amazon.com/Top-500-Poems-William-Harmon/dp/023108028X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259339009&sr=1-1

The Swallow Anthology of New American Poets - David Yezzi

http://www.amazon.com/Swallow-Anthology-New-American-Poets/dp/0804011214/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259339066&sr=1-1

Biography: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) - Hermione Lee

http://www.amazon.com/Biography-Very-Short-Introduction-Introductions/dp/0199533547/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259339128&sr=1-1

Hume: A Very Short Introduction

http://www.amazon.com/Hume-Very-Short-Introduction-Introductions/dp/0192854062/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259339128&sr=1-2

Memoir: A History by Ben Yagoda (Hardcover - Nov 12, 2009)

http://www.amazon.com/Memoir-History-Ben-Yagoda/dp/159448886X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259339222&sr=1-1

A Brief History of Infinity: The Quest to Think the Unthinkable by Brian Clegg (Paperback - Sep 12, 2003)

http://www.amazon.com/Brief-History-Infinity-Quest-Unthinkable/dp/1841196509/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259339347&sr=1-1

A Brief History of the Paradox: Philosophy and the Labyrinths of the Mind by Roy Sorensen (Hardcover - Dec 4, 2003)

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=a+brief+history+of+the+paradox&x=0&y=0

A Very Brief History of Eternity - Carlos Eire; Hardcover

http://www.amazon.com/Very-Brief-History-Eternity/dp/0691133573/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259339441&sr=1-1

The Counterfeiters – Kenner

http://www.amazon.com/Counterfeiters-Historical-Comedy-Archive-Scholarly/dp/1564784169/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259339656&sr=1-1

De Rerum Natura (The Nature of Things): A Poetic Translation (Joan Palevsky Book in Classical Literature) by Lucretius and David R. Slavitt

http://www.amazon.com/Rerum-Natura-Nature-Things-Translation/dp/0520255933/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259339774&sr=1-2

Lucretian Receptions: History, the Sublime, Knowledge by Philip Hardie

http://www.amazon.com/Lucretian-Receptions-History-Sublime-Knowledge/dp/0521760410/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259339989&sr=1-1

Design & Memory: Computer Programming in the 20th Century / Peter H. Huyck and Nellie W. Kremenak

http://www.amazon.com/Design-Memory-Computer-Programming-Century/dp/007031554X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259339844&sr=1-1

IBM System/38 Technical Developments (1978 IBM General Systems Division) – ISBN – 0-933186-00-2

Naming Infinity: A True Story of Religious Mysticism and Mathematical Creativity (Belknap Press) by Loren Graham and Jean-Michel Kantor

http://www.amazon.com/Naming-Infinity-Religious-Mathematical-Creativity/dp/0674032934/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259340214&sr=1-1

Plato's Ghost: The Modernist Transformation of Mathematics by Jeremy Gray

http://www.amazon.com/Platos-Ghost-Modernist-Transformation-Mathematics/dp/0691136106/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259340214&sr=1-2

Things a Computer Scientist Rarely Talks About – Knuth

http://www.amazon.com/Things-Computer-Scientist-Language-Information/dp/157586326X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259340712&sr=1-1

The Royal Oak in Prestbury, Cheltenham, has the air of a true pub haven.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/pubs/6670010/Gloucestershire-Pub-Guide-The-Royal-Oak-Prestbury-Cheltenham.html

Cyril Recommends Misc. Books at 10:20 AM MT, 11/26

The Mission, The Men, and Me: Lessons from a Former Delta Force Commander - Pete Blaber; Hardcover

A Passion for Wisdom: A Very Brief History of Philosophy - Robert C. Solomon; Paperback

A Very Brief History of Eternity - Carlos Eire; Hardcover

The Top 500 Poems - William Harmon; Hardcover

The Arabian Nights: A Companion - Robert Irwin; Paperback

The Regulars: The American Army, 1898-1941 - Edward M. Coffman

The Swallow Anthology of New American Poets - David Yezzi

The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar - Paul Laurence

Biography: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) - Hermione Lee

Memoir: A History by Ben Yagoda (Hardcover - Nov 12, 2009)

History of My Life by Giacomo Casanova and Willard R. Trask (Hardcover - Feb 6, 2007)

The Great Western Beach: A Memoir of a Cornish Childhood Between the Wars by Emma Smith (Hardcover - Jun 2, 2008)

Barmy in Wonderland by P. G. Wodehouse (Hardcover - Oct 29, 2009)

Children's Literature: A Reader's History from Aesop to Harry Potter by Seth Lerer (Paperback - Sep 1, 2009)

Cyril Recommends Books at 9:50 AM MT, 11/26

Tracy Kidder is first rate, and his "The Soul of a New Machine" is one of the best

Somewhat similar computer books follow:

Computer Pioneers - Lee
Counterfeiters, The, reprint edition with epilogue 1985 – Kenner
Dealers of Lightning: Xerox PARC and the Dawn of the Computer Age - Hiltzik
Eudaemonic Pie, The - Bass
Fire in the Valley, rev. ed. -- Freiberger and Swaine
Grammatical Man – Campbell
Hackers, 2d ed. – Levy
Little Kingdom, The - Moritz
Memoirs of a Computer Pioneer -- Wilkes
Perspectives on the Computer Revolution, 2d ed. – Pylyshyn (the first edition may be better)
Portraits in Silicon -- Slater
Privacy and Freedom – Westin
Programmers and Managers – Kraft
Programmers at Work – Lammers
Second Self, The – Turkle (20th anniversary edition)
Story of Magic, The – Rowlett
Silicon Dreams -- Lucky
Silicon Valley Fever -- Rogers and Larsen
System and Structure, 2nd ed. – Wilden (1st edition was better)
Systemantics, 2d ed. – Gall (1st edition was better)
Things a Computer Scientist Rarely Talks About -- Knuth
Three Degrees Above Zero -- Bernstein
Two Cybernetic Frontiers – Brand
Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins of the Internet - Hafner
Who Got Einstein's Office – Regis
Wilderness of Mirrors – Grant
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance -- Pirsig

- a good scifi anthology is Amazon.com: Machines That Think: The Best Science Fiction Stories ...

- a good scifi novel is Shockwave Rider, The - Brunner

Cyril Remembers IBM at 3:50 AM MT, 11/26 (Thanksgiving for the less alert)

Cyril Remembers Some Old IBM sayings:

"Business is like sex - even when it's bad it's good."
"Any word can be verbed."
"A rose by any other name does not have to follow the standards for roses."
"It is the job of management to make decisions right."
"If you can't fix it, feature it."
"IBM needs wild ducks - but not too many."
"A good business plan is built around mid-life kickers."
"Thou shalt not over-engineer."

Cyril Provides an IBM Sidelight

Somebody (Auden?) once said that man was the naming animal. IBM was the naming corporation, though naming was a distant second to making money, re-organizing, and task-forcing. I have many IBM naming stories but will include only a few.

I grew up in the South and was accustomed to calling white people five years older than myself by their last name, preceded by Mr. or Ms. It was a shock to join IBM and have to learn to call everyone by their first name, or, more IBMish, by their nickname. The nickname custom died out (the first-name custom did not). For the first few years after I joined IBM, when attending an internal function, you were always asked for your "nickname" for lapel cards. In my first couple of years with IBM, people looked genuinely surprised when I said that I did not have a nickname. (Later the IBM La Gaude Lab awarded me a sobriquet, “The Abominable Snowman”.)

But, even in IBM, this went only so far. In the late 1960s, Dick S, head of Personnel, was acting RTP Lab Director in the interregnum between Kuehler and Fairclough. A. K. (Dick) Watson visited the lab during Dick S’s temporary tenure. In the meeting at the lab, Watson said something or other, and the acting lab director began his response by saying, "Aw, shit, Dick". Before he could continue, Watson responded, "Don't be formal, just call me Dick".

Real IBMers had nicknames. If your last name was Finn, you were called "Huck", if Winslow, "Don", if Rogers, "Buck", if Gates, "Rusty", if Rhodes, "Dusty", and so on. If all else failed, you were called something like "BOE" (Bob O. Evans).

A chosen few had sobriquets. The two architects on the 1410, Ron S and Dick C, were known as "The Gold Dust Twins" (Dick C, a hardcore engineer, later became IBM Director of Programming before taking gas over FS; Ron S, also a hardcore engineer, made significant contributions to The Big Oz but did not move up, possibly because he rode a bicycle to work). Glenn H was known as "The Lone Ranger" (as in "Who was that masked man?”). Ed Sussenguth was known as "Dr. Ed". Don Gavis was known as "The Grey Fox" (also as “The Wizard of Os”). Joe LaSarge was known as “The Chief”. Bernie W (was from FSD and fathered most of the bad shit and some of the good in OS/360 -- when it was realized how bad, he was shipped back to FSD) was known as "The Velvet Fog".

Cyril’s List of Some Books on IBM:

The two best books on IBM are

The Maverick and His Machine – Maney
Building IBM: Shaping an Industry and Its Technology -- Emerson W. Pugh

The book with the most flavor is

Inside IBM: The Watson Years -- William W. Simmons

The oddest book is

And Tomorrow…the World -- Rex Malik

The following are pretty much mandatory

IBM’s 360 and Early 370 Systems -- Emerson W. Pugh, Lyle R. Johnson, and John H. Palmer
IBM’s Early Computers -- Charles J. Bashe, Lyle R. Johnson, John H. Palmer, Emerson W. Pugh
Father, Son & Co. – Watson and Petre
A Business and Its Beliefs: The Ideas That Helped Build IBM – Watson (Jr.)

Cyril liked

The Computer Establishment – Katherine Fishman
The Sun Never Sets on IBM -- Foy
The Romance Division…a Different Side of IBM -- Deloca and Kalow

Cyril edited

IBM System/38 Technical Developments (1978 IBM General Systems Division) – ISBN – 0-933186-00-2

Indirectly about IBM

Design & Memory: Computer Programming in the 20th Century / Peter H. Huyck and Nellie W. Kremenak

gleans + 1xlagniappe at 6:30 AM MT, 11/25

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A quirky look at the people who stare deep into space - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8319044.stm
 
Tel Aviv: Miami of the Middle East -

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/middleeast/israel/6650728/Tel-Aviv-Miami-of-the-Middle-East.html

Mark Lowe is right: The Romans said it better -

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/6649756/Mark-Lowe-is-right-The-Romans-said-it-better.html

If you think squash casserole and pecan tassies came over on the Mayflower, think again. Take a peek at the foods from the first Thanksgiving feast. - http://www.myrecipes.com/recipes/gallery/0,28548,1940604,00.html
 
Global Warming: Once Stable, East Antarctica Losing Ice - http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1942828,00.html?xid=rss-topstories
 
lagniappe
e.e. cummings 
the Cambridge ladies who live in furnished souls
the Cambridge ladies who live in furnished souls
are unbeautiful and have comfortable minds
(also, with the church's protestant blessings
daughters,unscented shapeless spirited)
they believe in Christ and Longfellow, both dead,
are invariably interested in so many things--
at the present writing one still finds
delighted fingers knitting for the is it Poles?
perhaps. While permanent faces coyly bandy
scandal of Mrs. N and Professor D
.... the Cambridge ladies do not care, above
Cambridge if sometimes in its box of
sky lavender and cornerless,the
moon rattles like a fragment of angry candy
 
 
 

gleans + 1xlagniappe at 6:55 PM MT, 11/23

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News Corp. Weighs an Exclusive Alliance With Bing New York Times - http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/24/technology/internet/24soft.html
 
The Large Hadron Collider, the world's biggest atom smasher, has succeeding in producing the first proton collisions, just three days after it was restarted following repairs.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/large-hadron-collider/6638873/Large-Hadron-Collider-produces-first-proton-collisions-in-Big-Bang-mission.html

 
Engineers operating the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) have smashed together proton beams in the machine for the first time.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/8375486.stm

 
Morocco's grape pickers may not drink wine, but the North African country's vineyard owners have their sights further abroad, writes the BBC's Sylvia Smith.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/africa/8352885.stm

 
Rare images of creatures found in the depths of the ocean that were captured by the Census of Marine Life during nearly 10 years of research.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/in_pictures/8374306.stm

 
Children should be allowed to get dirty, according to scientists who say being too clean can impair the skin's ability to heal.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/health/8373690.stm

 
New guidelines to protect Scotch whisky from foreign imitation are coming into force, including rules on labelling and bottling.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/8372260.stm

 
Not long ago Second Life was everywhere, with businesses opening branches and bands playing gigs in this virtual world. Today you'd be forgiven for asking if it's still going.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8367957.stm

 
lagniappe
Lyrics
In a cavern, in a canyon,

Excavating for a mine

Dwelt a miner forty niner,

And his daughter Clementine

Oh my darling, oh my darling,

Oh my darling, Clementine!

Thou art lost and gone forever

Dreadful sorry, Clementine

Light she was and like a fairy,

And her shoes were number nine,

Wearing boxes, without topses,

Sandals were for Clementine.

Oh my darling, oh my darling,

Oh my darling, Clementine!

Thou art lost and gone forever

Dreadful sorry, Clementine

Drove the ducklings to the water

Ev'ry morning just at nine,

Hit her foot against a splinter,

Fell into the foaming brine.

Oh my darling, oh my darling,

Oh my darling, Clementine!

Thou art lost and gone forever

Dreadful sorry, Clementine

Ruby lips above the water,

Blowing bubbles, soft and fine,

But, alas, I was no swimmer,

So I lost my Clementine.

Oh my darling, oh my darling,

Oh my darling, Clementine!

Thou art lost and gone forever

Dreadful sorry, Clementine

How I missed her! How I missed her,

How I missed my Clementine,

But I kissed her little sister,

I forgot my Clementine.

gleans + 1xlagniappe at 8:05 AM MT, 11/22

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The unmasking of Belle de Jour makes us think of a litany of brilliant courtesans, writes Clive James in his weekly column.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8370730.stm

 
Sign language: week 37

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/picturegalleries/signlanguage/4697554/Sign-language-week-37.html

 
The man responsible for the first ever computer virus talks to BBC World Service's Witness programme

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/technology/8366703.stm

 
Ball lightning is a debated and controversial atmospheric electrical phenomenon. The term refers to reports of luminous, usually spherical objects - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball_lightning
 
The battlefield of Mametz was to see acts of heroism by Captain Chavasse, the only man to be awarded the Victoria Cross twice during the First World War. ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noel_Godfrey_Chavasse
 
lagniappe
THERE'S A RAINBOW ROUND MY SHOULDER

From the film "The Singing Fool" (1928)

(Dave Dreyer / Al Jolson / Billy Rose)

Al Jolson (Film Soundtrack) - 1928

Also recorded by:

Bobby Darin; Dixie Daisies; Frankie Laine;

Stan Edwards; Woody Herman; Ted Heath Orch;

McKinney's Cotton Pickers; Dinning Sisters;

Brian Setzer Orchestra; ....... and others.

I'm happy, so happy, walkin' on air

The why and the wherefore

Is someone I care for

I'm yellin', I'm tellin' folks everywhere

I know that she loves me

So what do I care

There's a rainbow around my shoulder

And a sky of blue above

Oh the sun shines bright, the world's all right

Cause I&#39;m in love<br/> <br/> There&#39;s a rainbow around my shoulder<br/> <br/> And it fits me like a glove<br/> <br/> Let it blow and storm, I&#39;ll be warm<br/> <br/> Cause I'm in love

Hallelujah, how the folks'll stare

When they see that great big solitaire

That my little sugar

My little sugar baby is goin' a-wear

There's a rainbow around my shoulder

And a sky of blue above

And I'm shouting so the world will know

That I'm in love

(Whistling Interlude / Bird Impressions)

Get hot!

There's a rainbow around my shoulder

And a sky of blue above

Oh, the sun shines bright, the world's all right

Cause I&#39;m in love<br/> <br/> There&#39;s a rainbow around my shoulder<br/> <br/> And it fits me like a glove<br/> <br/> Let it blow and storm, I&#39;ll be warm<br/> <br/> Cause I'm in love

Hallelujah, how the folks'll stare

When they see that great big solitaire

That my little sugar

Baby, baby, baby, baby, she's goin' a-wear

There's a rainbow aound my shoulder

And a sky of blue above

And I'm shouting so the world will know

That I'm in love