I recently read an article about a lady who “charges $480 an hour to help Gen Z and millennial workers overcome their fear of talking on the phone”. That’s an eye-catching headline, but on reflection I’m not surprised that this is a problem. I’m slightly too old to be a millennial, so I grew up… Continue Reading
Network Ops
Chess Boxing – yes, this is real
Would it surprise you to learn that I like playing chess? Probably not. I mean, I’m a nerdy English guy, and what’s more nerdy than chess? When I was growing up we had a grand total of 4 TV channels in England, and in 1993 one of those four channels presented live coverage of the… Continue Reading
Moonikins and MOPs
In September I had the privilege to attend a lecture at Duke University given by Dr Ehsan Samei, who last week had the unusual experience of watching his work get launched into space. One of my daughters is a space enthusiast, and so we pay close attention to anything that NASA is doing, and last… Continue Reading
Starbucks is focusing on faster Frappuccinos
Longstanding readers may have noticed that I’m a bit of a process nerd. I really enjoy figuring out how to do something, and then figuring out how to do it better and faster. I was therefore fascinated to read about Starbucks plan to overhaul the processes their baristas follow to make coffee. Take a look… Continue Reading
Are you cynical, curious, hopeful or skeptical?
I’ve been thinking a lot about mindset recently. In particular, trying to figure out what character attributes are helpful for someone in a technical role. So let me start by asking you, personally – which of the following attributes would you use to describe yourself? What about your team mates? Cynical Curious Hopeful Skeptical I’m… Continue Reading
NASA saves the Earth! – In a maintenance window
This evening (Monday, September 26, 2022) at 7:14pm EDT, the NASA DART spacecraft will intentionally crash into an asteroid named Dimorphos – hoping to change it’s course, thus saving the Earth from destruction! Ok, maybe that’s a slight exaggeration. You see, Dimorphos is not actually on course to hit the Earth, and even if it… Continue Reading