Time Travel

You might have missed the story in the last few days about the launching of a NASA probe with the objective of smashing into an asteroid and knocking it ever so slightly off course—as a practice run.  

The probe is expected to travel 6 million miles and is scheduled to crash into the asteroid after a 6 month journey as it smashes into the space rock at 15,000 miles per hour. Talk about speeding.

The asteroid as it is poses no threat to planet Earth. It is merely being used as target practice should the need ever truly arise that Earth needs to be saved from a speeding asteroid headed right for us.

Apparently there have been some asteroids that have clunked into us and proved Chicken Little right, the sky was falling, causing some major league damage. The WSJ story by Robert Lee Hotz tells us that "in 1908 a mysterious space rock exploded over Siberia and leveled 830 square miles of forest. In 2013, a 65-foot asteroid blew apart 20 miles above Chelyabinsk, Russia, That airburst released more than 30 times the energy of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. It knocked people off their feet and blew out windows in thousands of buildings." 

Most asteroids that do tumble toward Earth burn up before they enter our atmosphere. It is a good thing, because there might be politicians who would build a "space wall" to keep the interlopers out. Think what that would cost, and Mexico likely would have no part of it.

There is good news in all of this. A Near Earth Object Surveyor is scheduled for launch in 2026 designed to find "near -Earth asteroids large enough to cause regional damage," said Dr. Mainzer, who heads the project. "The question is to answer what could happen in the next 100 years. We hope the answer is nothing." Good news for the great-great-great... grandchildren who haven't yet been born. 

But there is Sword of Damocles hanging over someone's head. Asteroids 6 miles across or larger, like the one that wiped out most dinosaurs and torched much of the planet about 66 million years ago, are believed to strike only every 15 million years or so." (If I read this right, then there have been several cataclysmic events since 66 million years ago. But we're not going to beg for details, or confirmation.)

I'm not sure if the clock starts now on that 15 million year count, but if it does, then there are people (assuming there will still be people) who 14,962, 979 years from now who might see someone holding a sign telling them "The End is Near." who are really in danger of facing the Apocalypse. Tell someone planning a family in 14,965,000 (what's that in Roman numerals?) that their children won't be around long enough to give them grandchildren and there might very well be worldwide panic.

The really good news might be that credit card debt, car loans and mortgages will come due after the Big Event, leaving a LOT of people off the hook, but probably dead and unable to enjoy their new found financial freedom.

http://www.onofframp.blogspot.com

Batting .400

Think of the guy who recently passed away who had 100 great ideas before breakfast. It was said 60 were impractical. or too expensive to implement, but the remaining 40 were viable ideas. Thus, by baseball metrics he was consistently batting .400, and therefore a sure first ballot Hall of Famer.

Such a person was Alan Paller, 76,  who made cybersecurity education his mission. The guy few knew was alive when he was.

Nicole Perloth of the NYT takes us through the life and times of Mr. Paller in yesterday's obituary.

Mr. Paller was a "cybersecurity pioneer who devoted his life to improving the digital defense of the United States. His death was confirmed by the SANS institute, the organization he founded in 1988."

He not only provided cybersecurity services, he was instrumental in training and grooming the next generation of cybersecurity sleuths, a cadre of individuals he felt there were far too few of in the United States. 

His work of course put him in touch with the National Security Agency (NSA) and Cyber Command. He worked with Jeff Moss, the founder of Black Hat, as they were co-chairmen of a proposed cybersecurity task force for the Department of Homeland Security. 

When we think of Homeland Security we naturally think of people crossing our borders with bad intent. But years ago I will always remember the quote from John M. Deutch, a Deputy Secretary of Defense, who sounded the alarm that "the ultimate strategic weapon is the electron."

The obituary carries a great photo of Mr. Paller taken in 2014. He has the craggy face looks of wisdom, sitting next to his Apple laptop.

And if he truly did have those 100 great ideas before breakfast, as Tony Sager, the former chief operating officer of the National Security Agency's International Assurance Directorate, which oversees cyberdefense claimed, then think of what he was capable after of after eating a bowl of cereal.

By all accounts, he's going to be missed.

http://www.onofframp.blogspot.com

Multitasking

Multitasking was going on during my spinal surgery recovery, but it wasn't two tasks being performed by one person, it was two tasks and two people, specifically the nurse taking my vitals, and myself, trying to use their cell phone to get a bet down on The Breeders' Cup Classic around 8:38 P.M. EST, Saturday, November 6.

I make online wagers all the time through my account, but it's always at my desktop computer. I'm not much of a cell phone user, and use a small, outdated smartphone model handed down to me from my daughter Susan.

I can never cleanly enter characters with my fingers or fingernails. I have to use a rubber tipped stylus. It's only then that an F goes in as an F, and not a D or a G. Even with the stylus, being presented with a hand held screen that I rarely encounter, I had trouble navigating the entries.

I was watching the racing telecast courtesy of a hospital bed in Manhattan, lying slightly upright from a 30° tilt or so from the back position. I could see the telecast well enough, and the sound was fine. On Saturday at that hour I even had the semi-private room to myself, due to my roommate's afternoon discharge, so I was able to make the sound comfortably audible.

Over the last several years I've pretty much avoided betting the Breeders' Cup races. Too many horses, too many from overseas, too hard to get a good read on them, even with a deep dive into the past performances.

I've never had a winning Breeders' Cup day. I've had some memorable winners, especially Ridgewood Pearl, a filly who took a turf race years ago, beating males. The jockey was nearly being pulled out of the saddle by a horse so anxious to run during the warmups. I always look at her winner's circle photo at Belmont when I'm there.

I was once on my way to a very nice exacta payout until one of the foreign turn horses took a solid interest in what was going on in the stands and ruined my exacta by drifting toward the stands, as if to talk to someone as they approached the finish, leaving me with the exacta split of a 1-3 finish; horse racing's version of the bowling 7-10 split. 

I liked Blame once in the Classic to beat Zenyatta, which they did. For some reason I only had Blame to win, and didn't bother making a very logical exacta bet. Brain freeze. Even when we win we lose.

So, as Jerry Bailey as the gang went over their blurbs for the Classic entrants, I knew enough of what the leading contenders were like to know that Knicks Go had never won at a mile and a quarter. I knew Max Player had won their last two starts at the distance, taking the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Saratoga, and the Suburban at Belmont.

The adage handed down from Pittsburgh Phil is you never bet on a horse trying to do something they've never done before. This can mean carrying their weight assignment, winning on a track that is now in a condition they've never encountered—something other than fast or firm—or trying to win at a distance they've never attempted. 

Knicks Go is a solid, formidable front runner. But as the NYT reporter Joe Drape once pointed out to an attentive crowd at a book signing at Saratoga's Northshire book store years ago, champion horses take it to the front and hold on and win. Do we go with Pittsburgh Phil, or the longtime racing reporter? 

Fumbling with my stylus and my phone, as the nurse is intently taking my blood pressure (from my left arm and I'm left handed) and aiming a thermometer for the space under my tongue, I manage to negotiate the unfamiliar screens and punch in my bet for Max Player.

The race is history. It's in the books. Kicks Go runs the race of their life, going wire-to-wire under Joel Rosario, and winning in a championship time of 1:59.57. Champions go to the front and win. (Unless of course you're Zenyatta.)

It's the last race of the day and my Max Player has run last. It's almost fitting. Did they not like the track? Possibly. They had never run at Del Mar before.

My betting lose is small. But my other bet is coming through and I'm recovering on all cylinders and I'm set to blow the taco stand on Tuesday. And I did.

The very good news is if there's a next time and I have to make an online bet via my phone, I won't be attached to a blood pressure cuff with a thermometer under my tongue.

Though I'm sure even with the stylus, I'll have trouble with the screens.

http://www.onofframp.blogpsot.com

BLT

Anyone who has ever ordered a sandwich at a luncheonette or diner will tell you BLT stands for Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato. Your choice of bread, toasted or plain also follows the order: BLT on plain, white toast, with mayo. Always recommended. 

A BLT sandwich is my favorite, and was one I usually ordered two of when I ate in the company cafeteria decades ago.

In the world of post-op spinal surgery, BLT stands for three things not to do for a while as you recover. BEND, LIFT and TWIST. Use your legs to lower and raise yourself; do not lift anything greater than 10 pounds, and do not twist your body to reach for something. Turn your body so that you face whatever it is you're trying to reach.

The pre-op literature they give you advises against against BLT for at least two weeks after surgery. Your post-op visit is in two weeks after surgery. In my case, even in the pre-op holding area the surgeon and his fleet of PAs (physician assistants) reminded me about BLT.

"Now you know what BLT is, right?

"Yes, I've read about it. It's my favorite sandwich."

"I like them as well, with a piece of avocado on top."

"You're kidding me. You're probably a guy who likes hummus."

"Well. my three-year-old loves hummus." Spreads it all around and eats it."

"Hummus is wallpaper paste. It looks like what you'd buy a gallon of at the paint store.  In fact, I never knew what hummus was. My oldest son-in-law loves hummus. When I once asked what that lump of brown stuff in the refrigerator was, he told me it was 'hummus.'"

"Yeah, and what the hell is hummus?"

"It's ground chick peas."

"You're kidding. I somewhat like chick peas. Whole chick peas. Tad's Steaks seemed to sprinkle a few into the green leaves they called the salad you got when you bought one of their steaks, originally $1.19 in the 60s. Later a $1.29. Later who knows what, and then they disappeared. I'm not sure they're missed.

"In fact, in the early 60s and 70s there was place on Park Avenue South between I think 18th and 17th Streets called "Max's Kansas City." The neon sign announced the name and that they had "Chick Peas."

My father and I passed the place most evenings when we closed up the flower shop and headed for the 16th Street entrance to the BMT to go to 34th Street and Penn Station, to take the Port Washington train home to Murray Hill. All short trips.

Neither of us ever knew what Max's Kansas City was. When we passed it it was dark, say 8:00, 8:30 P.M. and there didn't seem to be any activity going on. It looked partially lit, but I could never tell what the place was all about.

My father and I were basically both ignorant of  NYC nightlife. I was maybe 12, although his destination sometimes lead him to Port Said, a Greek, Middle Eastern belly dance cavern somewhere on Eighth Avenue. (I was never there.)

It wasn't until sometime in the latter 60s when I was working that someone at work mentioned Max's Kansas City as a place where one of the co-workers played in with a rock band. Perhaps a punk rock band. I don't know. They did cut a record, but my curiosity took me no further.

I 'm not sure I 've ever gotten over that chick peas could appear on a neon sign for a place that I knew nothing of, and that ground chick peas was hummus.

The image of a piece of avocado on a BLT sandwich is now something I can't get out of my head.

Recovery seems speedy. Thanks for asking.

http://www.onofframp.blogspot.com

Help Wanted

I don't usually look at help wanted ads, but for some still unexplained reason I was attracted to read one in yesterday's WSJ. It appeared on the second page of the Business and Finance section in The Market Place box. 

Under the heading of CAREERS the following help wanted ad was posted.

VP-IT Developer

Jefferies LLC seeks VP-IT Developer in NY, NY...

...Req'mnts: Bachelor's or foreign equiv in CS, Computer ENG'g or rel field & 5 yrs. of progressively responsible exp in job offered or rel: programming utilizing C#, MVC, LINQ, Entity Framework: working w/TypeScript, JavaScript, JQuery, Angular, HTML, CSS3, XML, TFS to support & dvlp new fin'l apps utilizing SQL server, TSQL, SSRS, SSIS, SOQL to support, devl new fin'l reports and data migrations: working w/Node.js, Python, Knockout React Ionic & Cordova to support and dvlp new fin'l apps; supporting cloud dvlpmnt in AWS incl. Lamda Dynamo, CloudWatch, Aurora, RedShift, Kinesis, & S3: working in DevOps incl BitBucket and Bamboo. Pls email resume to apply@jeffries.com & indicate job code VC09202iLA.

Can such a candidate exist? As for myself, I'm going to pass. I might be overqualified.

http:www.onofframp.blogspot.com