Quiz – Match the Critter with the Name

People frequently say that our dog looks like any variety of real and fictitious beings.  See if you can match the pictures with their names. I know, it’s tough :)   Post your answers in the comment section …

Milo, Wolfman, Lamb, Bear Cub

 

OSCON 2012: My Head’s in the Clouds

OSCON 2012

Last week, I traveled to beautiful, funky Portland, Oregon for OSCON 2012, O’Reilly Media’s annual gathering of open source geeks and gurus.  They involved a record crowd — roughly 3,000 registrants.  I felt quite at home, and enjoyed seeing a few old friends who straddle the worlds of open standards and open source. Most of my time was invested in talking to people about “The Cloud” and OpenStack.  Read on  …

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Year Up: Preparing Urban, Young Adults to Get Down to Business

Following my talk on life and the Web

The Year Up program’s “About” page says that they aim to, “… close the opportunity divide by providing urban young adults with the skills, experience, and support that will empower them to reach their potential through professional careers and higher education.”  After meeting a number of students and staff at their Boston campus last Friday …  I’m sold. Here’s the short story …

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Chatham Harbor 10K: Heat, Hospitality .. No Great Whites

Seagull on a swingAn all-star team of Winchester Highlanders and friends descended upon the fair town of Chatham MA, on the elbow of Cape Cod, for the Chatham Harbor 10K.    The highlight for me was the post-race barbecue at Joe and Maria Nicholson’s beautiful home in the heart of town.  Thanks so much to the lovely couple for the hospitality, the delicious food, cool drink, (thx to others who brought wonderful consumables), and the pyrotechnics ;-)    What a super way to end the event!  Read on …

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Bill Brace (1926 – 2012): 3 Ways He Changed My Life

Before the start of 1984 AGU run over the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco: Bill Brace, Howard Pratt, Steve Bratt, ???, Art Montana, Tim Grove, Brian Evans, ???, Dave Olgaard, Brian Bonner, ???

Yesterday, I and a couple hundred relatives and friends attended a memorial service in Concord, Massachusetts for Bill Brace.   It was a wonderful celebration of a life lived to its fullest: world-renowned geoscientist, runner, rower, adventurer, naturalist, wood craftsman, husband, father, grandfather, friend and human being.  Only a small percentage of who he was and what he did could be captured in the obituaries in the MIT press and Boston Globe .. but please do have a read.  It was great to see many old friends yesterday, and to swap Bill stories.

What I want to remember here is how Bill played a major role in 3 things that changed my life:  choosing MIT for grad school, meeting my wife, and finding my first job (hint: the photo here has something to do with the latter).  Read on … it’s kind of a funny set of stories …

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Newton 10K – New England Grand Prix

Last Sunday (June 6th), I ran the Newton 10K in nearby Newton, Massachusetts.  This year, the event was also part of USA Track and Field’s New England Grand Prix series …  a team and individual championship series.  This means most of the region’s best runners of all ages show up.  I ran for the Cambridge Sport Union (which I first joined in 1980).  To cut to the chase, I ran a leisurely 42:38 — about what I aimed to run (full individual and team results here).

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Providence Marathon

Steve Mid-Way through the Providence MarathonHad an fair run today at the Providence Cox Sport Marathon in Rhode Island.  This incarnation of the 26.2 miler has become a popular post-Boston Marathon event.  I should not have been surprised at the large number Boston registrants — in addition to hope-to-be qualifiers — who were in Providence today.  I ran Boston three weeks ago as a training run for Providence (it is a loooong story).  But this year’s Patriots Day run was one of the hottest on record … temps in the upper 80′s.   Over 2,000 runners did not start the Boston Marathon, and almost no runner ran the time they’d hoped for.  So, Providence was a viable, nearby option for a better experience.

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Web Index Previewed at TED 2012

 

 

 

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The theme of this year’s TED conference was “Full Spectrum” — “the rich use of multiple technologies, formats and approaches for the most powerful possible impact on an audience”.  Certainly the World Wide Web has greatly expanded the spectrum of people with access to a broad spectrum of information in a broad spectrum of ways.  I proposed a talk entitled, “Measuring the Web’s World Wide Impact”, and was fortunate to one of a couple dozen of talks selected from 250 or so candidates for a talk during the TED-U sessions at TED2012.  Speaking on 28 February, I had 7 mins to explain the Web Foundation’s scheme for the Web Index.  Here are some pics of my talk from the TED Flickr site (pic 1, pic 2, pic 3)

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Miles for Missing People 10K, London

Today, I ran the Miles for Missing People 10K to benefit the search for people who have been reported missing. I’m in London, England in between meetings with the Web Foundation Board and others in London, and a trip to Kenya on Monday for a workshop. I awoke to a cloudy, raining morning (how rare for London!), and ran up to Regents Park, about 4 miles north of my hotel.  The park is one of many beautiful spots in London in which I’ve run over the years.

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Boston Prep 16 Mile Race

Boston Prep LogoI — along with fellow Winchester Highlanders Carrie, Lee, Dan and Tom — trekked 35 minutes north to Derry, New Hampshire for the ever “moderately challenging” Boston Prep 16 Miler.  The course remains the most difficult road course in New England.  The day was absolutely beautiful.  Near 10 deg F at the start, rising a bit from there, and no wind.  Brilliant sunshine lit our tour of scenic New England farmlands and large-lot homes. Well-organized and great food at the finish (high on my list of criteria for choosing a race :) ).  My running buddies all did great, and I’ll let them speak for themselves.  My story …

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