KFCblog - September 2021

[Note: LinkedIn support fixed my hyperlink issue. The full blog is below]

Life

The end of summer? September 1 is considered to be one of the starts of autumn (the meteorological start) Astrologically, summer runs until 17:20 UTC on September 22. This is the point where the sun crosses the projection of the equator into space. Although we popularly say that it is the day with exactly 12 hours of sunlight and 12 hours of darkness, that is not quite true. Since we see light before the?center?of the sun crosses the horizon during sunrise (and after sunset), the daylight during the equinox is slightly more light than dark. The closest we get to a 12/12 split is approximately 4 days after the equinox. One other cool equinox fact is the sun rises [almost] exactly in the east and sets [almost] exactly in the west on the equinox (good day to tweak your sundial).

Well, the start of fall in the US also means the start of school (although some schools start as early as late July!). In the Corless house, Jackie is starting her junior year of high school. Kelly, who took a Covid year off college, is working full-time and take a few classes at a local community college while she tweaks the “what she wants to do in life” conundrum. Tommy is starting he senior year at DePaul (although his college career might go a bit into overtime due to his path of majors: Aerospace Engineering -> Fashion -> Business). My oldest, Joey, is living at home and working his post-pandemic life plan.

Sports World

College Football started this week, and the NFL starts in the coming week. I am ready for some football even if the Bears and Giants are not looking at great seasons. Michigan beat Ohio to win the 2021 Little League World Series (without any non-US teams due to COVID). The US Open began this week. Djokovic is going for the first men’s tennis grand slam winner since Rod Laver in 1969. On the women’s side, Osaka and Barty are already out; the door is open to world #2 Aryna Sabalenka from Belarus, looking for her first grand slam victory. Americans have their hopes on Shelby Rogers, who knocked off Barty in the 3rd round [oops, she’s out].

Hello, World!

I don’t have a ton of personal updates on the work front other than getting started on the big, confidential project I have been hinting at. I still can’t talk more broadly about it, but once I can, you’ll find it here. In the meantime, I thought I’d share a few interesting, short reads that are relevant to the Enterprise IT space.

First, there is the story of the spinout of Fox Corporation (the resulting standalone company when Disney bought “the movie business” from 21st Century Fox. It’s a great success story of cloud-first, bold decision, clearly defined principles and “decision-by-strategy-rather-than-infrastructure-savings”.?Check it out.

The second good article is from Slack, with a magnificent view of?How We Design our APIs

Caught My Eye

Here’s a?good article discussing the immune system and COVID. While I believe the author is a bit overconfident or simplistic in some statements (infections in children are “perfectly harmless”), I thought the explanation of how things work and what?probably?lies ahead was great.

My favorite new Olympic sport in Tokyo was sport climbing. The under-appreciated in this sport are?those who design the climbs?and drive the need for the exciting leap/grab/hang sequence.

Did you know that the computer processing needed to support bitcoin uses?more electricity than Finland?

While we are seeing a great increase in the usage of renewable energy sources, there is one long-aspired solution to our energy needs –?nuclear fusion. Some believe it’s getting closer, finally. P.S. a pip is a seed?

While we’re on the topic of climate change (an increasing area of interest for me), there’s a lot of promising activity in?direct air capture.

My latest read/listen is?Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions.?Learn about fascinating topics like?Optimal Stopping,?Lagrangian Relaxation?and the?Gittins Index.

Windows 11 is being released next month. Microsoft put some effort into designing?new system sounds. I agree that they are all more pleasant.

Did you know different?subway systems use different melodies? I like Budapest the most.

The Chicago Reader gives us a map of the?most iconic (not necessarily the best) restaurants?in each neighborhood in Chicago. I have some quibbles (e.g. in Lincoln Park, Pequod’s is a fine choice but no way is it more iconic than The Wiener’s Circle), but overall, it’s a great list.

CRISPR treatment has taken a big advance with the ability to apply changes inside the body?via a CRISPR-treated blood infusion?thereby curing the disease.

I find it very awesome that?Adam Sandler is a legend?of pickup basketball.

Put in any song you like and SongLikeX.com?will create a Spotify playlist for you.

I Bought This: With my month-long stay in a hotel last month, I bought this small travel router with VPN built in.

Closing Quote

"It's not how big you are, it's how big you play." - John Wooden