Dinner with Jim Gray

I love sailing. I love working with computers and developing (CAM) software. The intersection of these two interests is a sweet spot for me. With all the sailing blogs, regatta websites, class websites, sailing videos, virtual racing and more... the internet is clearly the best sailing invention of all time in my book. But I'm a little late for that project.

Tillerman's latest group writing project invites people to share "which sailor or sailors, living or dead, real or fictional you would like to invite to a dinner party." There are some that quickly come to mind: Hans Horrevoets, John Newton, Alex Thomson, Steve Fossett, Lia Ditton and Zac Sunderland to name a few...

Coming back to the intersection of wind and bytes, I think I might put Jim Gray at the top of my dinner party list. No, not that Jim Gray. I'd invite the Jim Gray that (most recently) worked for a giant computer industry monopoly in Redmond, WA who was lost at sea in January of 2007. We could talk about his pioneering computer science work related to database transactions (probably a real party killer but something that touches all of us every time we use an ATM or make an online purchase). So, we could "talk shop" as well as share sailing adventures as only geeks can... Of course finding out what happened on board Tenacious on that fateful winter day would also be interesting. I'm sure those that searched for and miss him would like to know...

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Blue Like Jazz

Image
We've been reading this book by Donald Miller . It's about his life and faith. What's the connection to Jazz in the book? So far, Miller hasn't talked about this theme very much (at least not explicitly). In the beginning of the book, he mentions that Jazz does not " resolve " for him and that similarly he thinks God does not resolve. What does it mean to resolve? resolve v. tr. 1. To make a firm decision about. 2. To cause (a person) to reach a decision 3.-8. [...] 9. Music. To cause (a tone or chord) to progress from dissonance to consonance. 10.-14. [...] Looking at the 9th definition related to Music, Miller suggests he hasn't found a progression from dissonance to consonance in his experience with God. dissonance n. A harsh, disagreeable combination of sounds; discord. Lack of agreement, consistency, or harmony; conflict Music. A combination of tones contextually considered to suggest unrelieved tension and require resolution. conso...
Read more

Bike Commute - Day 8

Image
"Wet ride?" Well it started out pretty dry (relatively). It wasn't really raining (even my my standards of humidity). Then it started raining about half way but not too bad. I didn't wear my "rubber pants" and stayed dry (again relatively). No rooster tail up the back side. Trevor's fender works as expected... I gotta get me some of that. I've ridden almost 130 miles and saved about $19 (just in gas)... but I've spent a little bit more than that on bike lub., tire levers and a pump... and obviously fenders are next. Still it saves gas and mileage on the ve-hicle (the four wheeled vehicled and internal combustion engine vs. the two wheeled vehicle and internal digestion engine). DAY Date Time Distance Cumulative Distance Savings Total Savings Weather 8 5.24.2006 0:41 7.96mi 118.96mi $2.35 $18.73 EUG 7.96mi 126.92mi
Read more

The RC is Always Right....

Image
Except when they're wrong and succumb to pressure and personal bias... Tillerman is at it again with another assignment. Last time, in response to his request for Worst Sailing Mistakes , I posted a story about my Protest Shoe . Overall the response provided many funny stories and a few intense ones. Fortunately, no one was seriously hurt (emotionally or physically) in the making of these stories. This time the assignment is Top Race Committee Screw Ups . First and in general, these (for the most part) volunteers to a great job. We couldn't have fun racing without them. The good ones run a race or regatta in such a way you hardly know they're there. On the other hand... they do occasionally make mistakes. In a regatta on our local lake, we were racing on Sunday. IIRC, the points were quite close. We were setting up for what was likely the final race of the regatta. The committee put up the course label and the sequence was rolling. We made sure we new the course, studie...
Read more