About Thoughts of a TechnoGeek: This is where I'll post my thoughts, interesting articles, or anything else I want to. If you don't like it, don't read it. David L Brenner my email Subscribe Links
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Sun, 09 Nov 2003
You've all probably seen the book The Da Vinci Code in the book stores. Everyone at work seems to be reading it, and they were discussing it in one of the status meetings this week while people were filing in. So I decided to pick it up. And then I couldn't put it down. It is the story of a researcher who is pulled into a murder investigation. The story involves the hunt for the Holy Grail. I described it to G as the third Indiana Jones movie, without Indiana Jones, and done better. It really is a page turner. One of the things that got me to pick it up is the thought of a mass market book that incorporates crypto systems. It was handled well for people that don't know anything. The explanations that are given are at a sufficiently high level that anyone can get it. The focus was strictly on pre-WWII systems because computer crypto would have required too much math and wouldn't have made sense in the story. No big deal, and besides that wasn't the focus of the book. I recommend this to anyone that likes a good mystery/thriller. Plus, there is a happy ending. Be warned, if you don't like people bashing the Catholic Church, don't read this book. It'll just piss you off. Of course, that never bothered me at bit.
This article over at Popular Science is too funny. It goes over this year's list of the worst jobs in science. People generally think of Science as a bunch of guys (or girls) sitting around in lab coats and doing experiments. But what about the folks that need to get the samples for those experiments (think fertility specialists for animals) or clean-up after the experiments (think level-4 biocontainment labs). I don't know that you could pay me enough to do some of these jobs. Its worth reading. Someone needs to pay attention to these unsung heros. People with "new" babies are interesting. There have been a number of folks at work that have new children. Babies are cute, and most people eventually want to have one. I'm all for babies. My problem is bringing them into a work environment for the adult equivalent of "show and tell". It is distracting if you are trying to do work, which happens to be the purpose of being here. I understand that everyone wants to show off their kid. I'm all for it. But photographs are the appropriate, and you can always schedule an outing for after work, or at lunch to show off. Friday, I was at my desk trying to work. Actually, I was on a conference call that I couldn't hear because, guess what, apparently right outside my cubicle is the best place on the floor for the "baby party". I understand how people are proud of their kids and want to share. I'm cool with that. Talk about them all you want. No problem. Show me pictures. Again, no problem. But actual babies/children don't belong at work. It distracts everyone from their job, and its a liability to your employer. Say there was an accident and the kid got injured; they aren't supposed to be there. What if there were toxic/carcinogenic chemicals around? They weren't authorized to be in the building in the first place. Now I understand the unauthorized access is a fuzzy area. We don't sign people in, we make sure to escort them. But technically, we probably are supposed to be bringing in people only when it is work related or a specific exception for a "fun event". The response to this I expect to get is I'll think differently when I have kids. I'm sure I will change a lot of opinions. I still don't think that hosting show-and-tell is appropriate at work. If I want to introduce my coworkers to my kids, I'll do it in the cafeteria, at a restaurant at lunch or after work, or in my home. |