Michael Dowling's Whispers

I’m going to share with all of you an interesting timeline related to the Gulf Oil Spill.

4/12: Halliburton buys an Oil Cleanup company Boots and Coots (http://bit.ly/dmYXVE)

4/19: Halliburton performs repairs on oil rig (http://yhoo.it/cLih3W)

4/20 (AM): BP warned to slow down operations, management orders otherwise (http://bit.ly/aZ0UJc)

4/20: Oil rig explodes, gushing gallons and gallons of crude oil into Gulf

TODAY: Guess who’s available to clean it up? Halliburton via Boots and Coots (http://bit.ly/a6qkML)

This blog post was inspired by Christopher McKay, who did most of the research online and put together the timeline. I feel the need to pass it on. Please do the same.

I haven’t updated my blog in a while…  sorry for that.  Besides my day job, I’ve been busily working on a new open-source project that has been in my head for quite a while now and I finally decided to just go for it.  I’m almost close to “announcing” it more publicly, but for right now I am gathering some feedback from colleagues before I unleash my horrifying code for the world to consume.

More later…

It is amazing.  I am on an airplane, blogging.  I have actual internet access.  At a speed that is quite respectable.  Fabulous is the word that comes to mind, though it doesn’t quite fully capture just how amazing this feature really is.

I am not sure I can ever fly another airline after this.  Well, I hear Delta has a similar service, not sure if it’s available across their entire fleet.

So, on a related note, it seems that even Virgin America First Class cannot be rid of those complete douchebags you seem to run across on a flight.  You know the type – the really cranky asshole who is SO COMPLETELY INCONVENIENCED by something that happened to him earlier in the morning, and has to take it out on his fellow passengers or, worse yet, the flight attendants.  Lately I have been traveling a lot for work and so my tolerance level for airport craziness has gotten a lot better, as it is clear that people who work in the airports have a very, very tough job.  Yes, I know it looks like they are somehow incompetent or don’t really care about you.  Maybe that’s true for some of them.  But give these folks a break – they also have to deal with security, the stringent rules placed upon them (and by extension, the rest of us) by the FAA, etc.

Anyhow – today’s douchebag was a first class passenger, who decided to completely ignore the rules regarding how much luggage to bring on the plane.  As he stepped on board, he took his carryon rollerbag and placed it in the overhead bin above the seat across the aisle from him.  Not above HIS seat, the OTHER seat.  Note, he could have spent abotu 30 seconds making room for his bag by doing a little shifting, but clearly that was too much work for him.

As he was doing this, the guy behind him asked if he could move his bag to his side so he can place his bag above his seat.  You see, the other guy’s seat was right below the bin where the douchebag placed his rollaround bag.  The douchebag’s response?  “WELCOME TO LIFE BUDDY TOO FUCKING BAD.”

I kid you not.  WHAT?  Are you serious?  Are you really that much of a dick, you have to treat your fellow human who has to sit across the aisle from you like that?  OMG.

The flight attendant did her best to make everyone happy, and really, she was amazing.  She ended up doing the shifting on behalf of Mr. Douchebag.

Seriously people – you really need to check your attitude at the gate (literally) when you get on an airplane.  No one really wants to be on it.  Well okay, not really true.  I could live in my first-class wifi-enabled seat, eating my fresh fruit, yogurt, and hot cinnamon roll while blogging.    But still…

Outside of that moment, this is the most amazing flight I have ever been on.  Thank you Virgin!

A great analogy, brought to you by a viewing of Bravo TV’s “The Fashion Show.”

Here it is:  An architect who does not code produces the same quality of work as a fashion designer who does not sew.

Please, for all of you who hold that title of “Architect:”  Do not tell me your “team of people” will dive into the details.  If you do not know the ramifications of your design (which eventually come out in the details) then show me someone who does.  If you’re responsible for systems design, even at bird’s eye level, please be able to do some coding so prove your design, even if you’re not officially coding for the project.

Seriously.

From MacRumors:  Apple’s Cash Hoard Triggers Acqusition Rumors

So, this scares me just a little bit.  It was not that long ago when Apple was bleeding – nay, hemmoraging – money from every pore.  It had piled up wads of money in previous years which pretty much kept it alive  long enough to buy back Steve Jobs and rescue the company from its failed product strategy.

I’m hoping the rumors are just that – rumors.  IMHO Apple, while making amazing products and therefore making amazing money right now, could just as easily fall out of favor with finicky consumers and find itself in an all-t00-familiar position all over again.  It will need that hoard of cash to reformulate and adapt, just like it did before.

I’m all for dividend distribution in general as well, but not for companies like Apple.  Or Microsoft, for that matter.  These companies are not in a business that is constant or stable – technology is still ever-adapting and ever-competitive, and realignments are common.  That takes cash.

Besides, WTF would Apple do with Twitter anyway?  Honestly, I’m still at a loss for what Twitter is exactly for, anyway.  Marketers tell me it’s an amazing channel, but people don’t go to Twitter so they can be marketed to, they go there to communicate.  Just like on Facebook.  Just like they did on MySpace.  MySpace fell out of favor, as will Facebook, and will Twitter.  I would say Twitter is well on its way, now that “tweeting” is a mass-market phenomenon and no longer a tool of the hipsters only.  That’s usually when these things start to become boring.

Electronic Arts?  That kinda makes sense.  MacOS has always had a big gap in its games category.  Most popular games are developed for the Windows platform (though recently EA has committed to developing for the Mac, and of course World of Warcraft (Warcrack?) is on the Mac, thankfully).  But I think that gap can be filled without spending the savings account.

My $0.02 on the matter, FWIW.