Community: August 2007 Archives
For once it didn't rain and a large crowd gathered to view this and other exhibits at the Clonoulty Vintage Rally in Clonoulty Village, Tipperary.
I have decided that the song for Paddy's valley needs to be more upbeat with this in mind I gave Whiskey in the Jar the west coast treatment.
(With Apologies to Phil Lynott and all Irish Trad musicians)
As I was going over the San Diego mountains,
I met with VC Farrell and his money he was counting,
I first produced my demo then produced my ND waiver,
Said sign here and I’ll deliver, for I am a brilliant programmer.
musha ring dumma do damma da
whack for the daddy 'ol
whack for the daddy 'ol
there's money in the jar
I counted out his money, and it made a pretty penny.
I put it in my pocket and I took it home to my jenny.
She said and she swore, that she never would deceive me,
but the devil take the women, for they never can be easy
musha ring dumma do damma da
whack for the daddy 'ol
whack for the daddy 'ol
there's money in the jar
I went into my chamber, all for to write the beta
I dreamt of Ferraris and helicopters and sure you couldn’t beat that,
But Jenny took my stocks and upped the pre money valuation,
Then sent for that VC Farrell to renegotiate the agreement.
musha ring dumma do damma da
whack for the daddy 'ol
whack for the daddy 'ol
there's money in the jar
It was early in the morning, as I rose up for travel,
The lawyers were all around me and likewise VC Farrel.
I first produced my laptop, for she stole away my contracts,
But I couldn't find the documentation so my beta it was taken.
musha ring dumma do damma da
whack for the daddy 'ol
whack for the daddy 'ol
there's money in the jar
If anyone can aid me, it's my brother in the army,
If I can find his office down in Cork or in Killarney.
And if he'll come and save me, we'll go investing near Kilkenny,
And I swear he'll treat me better than me darling sporting Jenny
musha ring dumma do damma da
whack for the daddy 'ol
whack for the daddy 'ol
there's money in the jar
Following a number of discussions with James Corbet regarding the pending Paddy's Valley trip to Silicon Valley and his requirement for an Irish song with VC overtures. I decided to write a song that was somewhat inspired by the Open Coffee in Limerick discussion regarding VCs and how they operate.
(To the air of Raglan road which is in fact the tune the Dawning of the Day)
(Imagine Luke Kelly with a banjo)
On SandHill road I saw the demo there and straight away I knew,
That this small app would save the world and make me millions too,
I saw the potential in a flash and wanted beta straight away,
All this happened at a coffee house at the dawning of the day.
On Cisco way in San Jose we skipped lightly hand in hand,
From a status review we could eschew that everything was in the can,
The system specs had yet to be checked but we thought everything was fine,
But the cardinal rule of design and review came to haunt us at a bad time.
We gave the programming team root access we gave them the secret signs,
That's known to the admins who have known true gods of Unix and gnome,
And C and Glint we did not stint, we let them have their own way,
With their own system calls and their own multi-threaded code like clouds over fields of May.
On a quiet street where former dot Coms meet I see them walking now,
Away from me so hurriedly my reasons must allow,
That I had wooed not as I should the best programmers of their day,
When smart guys come calling give them 10 million and stock options or you’ll lose them straight away.
With all the column inches, news minutes and megabytes of web space being dedicated to the Climate crisis and the models that help to demonstrate the crisis, it came as an eye opener to read that these models do not include biomass i.e. the clouds, the dust, the chemistry, and the biology of fields and farms and forests.
This is something that British-born physicist Freeman Dyson discusses in his book Many Colored Glass: Reflections on the Place of Life in the Universe. He also believes that a warm climate may not be a bad thing as it points back to a climate that existed 6000 years ago.
Edge: The Third Culture
"Time flies when your having fun" so the saying goes. I think time also files when you are up to your neck in research and the associated pressures with research papers and a Phd Thesis. 3 years and 5 months later those pressures have eased somewhat in that the Phd is finally finished (Will graduate on the 31st of August) and the research papers are starting to become a more recognisable work flow.
I originally started this blog as a means to communicate and maintain my research interests, as well as some of my social interests. Similar to my genetic algorithms and local search methods it has evolved and will continue to evolve, mutate, and crossover in to something else.
I will continue to write about what interests me, but in some ways it seems that I am starting over again.
A Born again blogger maybe?
I am just back from my first open coffee meeting and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. It was great to meet some of the bloggers in person. I had some interesting discussions with James Corbett from the merits of filing patents to GPS interactivity. Startups such as auctomatic and touristR where also present. Listening to these startup companies reminds me of mid 90's when my friends and I had ideas and the time and energy to bring them to fruition but the one thing we lacked was the get up and go / confidence. Ireland is slowly changing and forums such as open coffee will help to nurture this transformation.
I am looking forward to attending my first open coffee meeting in limerick this week. It will be a chance to put some faces to some blogs and meet the people in person.
