Techniques, stories, and rants about DevOps and site reliability engineering
What's the scariest movie of all time? It's The Conqueror. How can a Hollywood Technicolor film from 1956 be the scariest movie of all time? Here's how: John Wayne stars as... Genghis Khan. No, I am not making that up.Did I mention that John Wayne plays the Mongol Genghis Khan?John Wayne. Genghis Khan. That alone... Continue Reading →
I remember reading Choose Your Own Adventure books as a kid. These are like RPGs in book form. Yes, we still had actual RPGs (Zork ftw!) but I couldn't exactly take the Apple ][e on car trips, so books. I only had a few of the titles, so after going through them often enough to... Continue Reading →
Scary story: commuting in LA traffic. That's it. If you've ever lived there, that's enough. Now imagine you're on a major surface street during an evening commute. ("surface street" == not a highway, major means it's as wide as a highway. LA traffic has its own jargon, and when I moved to the Bay Area,... Continue Reading →
In the story "The Page Who Feigned to Know the Speech of Birds" from 1001 Nights, a servant overhears his rich boss telling his wife that she should spend the following day relaxing in their garden. That night, the servant sneaks into the garden, placing several items. The next day, as the servant accompanies the... Continue Reading →
In Greek mythology, Cassandra is the daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy. Considered a great beauty, she was pursued by the god Apollo, who granted her the gift of prophecy in order to woo her. When she rebuffed his advances, he turned the gift into a curse -- although her prophecies were... Continue Reading →
In the Grimm brothers' fairy tale "The Mouse, the Bird, and the Sausage," the titular characters (including, yes, an anthropomorphic sausage, because why not) all live together happily. Each has their own specific household task: the bird gathers wood in the forest, the mouse brings in water, and cooking falls to the sausage, because why... Continue Reading →
