The Zombie generation

Earlier on, I was chilling with my computer in the chill out room at the hostel central in Barcelona. Checking email, chatting with friends, booking tickets ... these were my activities.
Across from me were sitting two guys with a computer ... they were very attentively doing something ... I wonder what could it be ... no emotion, just human computer interaction ... the room was a bit dark on that side and all that was lighting it was the light from the computer. Watching this, I felt that I was observing the new and real zombie generation and worst of all, I was part of it!

I just returned from a nice dinner, where I had tappas and a bottle of sangria. I am back at the chillout room, which is a big bar, and everyone is quiet, no one is speaking ... they are all watching the television set where they are showing the F1 race.

Let the zombie generation awake!

Last day in Lugano

The day started with some chores, but soon enough I was watching Ratatouille the movie with Ratatouille and his charmed, but ailing companion.

I continued on my journey to the other side of the river, where I met my good friend Lasaro at his home; he is the man who inspired me to come to Lugano. We had great conversations about things of value and interest as we walked on the streets. I was challenged on many occasions and enjoyed the power of thought. The weather continued to get better and I was very happy to be able to spend the time together with my friend. We went for a cappuccino during the afternoon, a forsaken thing in Italian parts. Perhaps it was my last cappuccino this time around in Lugano.

In the evening, I had a very nice dinner at Cedric's place along with Cristina and Vova. The food was fantastic ... I'm not sure of the recipe, but I would have it again any day. The hosts were very gracious, so it was difficult not to enjoy the caring treatment. I spent much of the time listening; there are times I enjoy just to hear the words flow ... they were flowing tonight, sometimes good, sometimes bad ... I've learned, but I'm not sure I've taught this night. At one point we were interrupted by a marching band.

They marched for Teressa ... it was some sight ... guided by a voice on tape and pleasant music, they seemed possessed as they marched through the night ... I feel this was important for me to see ... many years have past, but perhaps the world stayed the same!

On my way back to my place, for the last time this trip I saw the beautiful silhouette of Mt. Bolia under the moonlight and the sleeping sheep in the background.

Why Performance Tunning is like Behavioural Psychology

Having been working non stop on a systems paper recently, I came to this realization ... Software Performance Tunning is like Behavioral Psychology.

For a long time I've been interested in observing and analyzing people's behavior, like an armature behavioral psychologist might. As part of our research paper, I had to spend loads of time on getting MySQL database running with Berkeley DB storage engine and more importantly to get it to perform well. At my disposal was a bunch of configuration parameters to play with. So I pushed on with tunned parameters, observed the behavior of the database and making some conclusions about the change and how it effects the system.

After a while and lots of frustration, I came to realize that this was not unlike what a behavioral psychologist might do; basically change some variable, whether intentionally or find it changed naturally, and observe the organism's behavior in order to progress some theory about living entities.

Perhaps there is something to learn for us from the behavioral psychologists when it comes to performance tunning of software.

In search of meaning ...

In search of meaning, we first come to abstract the process!
To me, the process of life is about connecting, adapting, understanding, and being attracted to.

Adaptation
We adapt all the time to environments we are in and to people. We do so to be able to maintain and form better connections and to survive. Friends adopt to each other to maintain and form a stronger connection; this is visible sometimes through their similar way of talking. People adopt to cultures and work environments by dressing and acting according to the norm. To live is to adapt!

Connection
We connect to everything around us: people, places, cultures, thoughts, ideas ... everything! Love is a type of strong connection. Sometimes you can feel the connection and it's especially beautiful when you are aware of its existence. To live is to connect!

Understanding
Understanding comes through meaning; it can be conscious as in "this is interesting: I'd like to understand what this means" or unconscious as in "I identify with this, but I'm not sure why". In order to connect, you need to reach understanding at some level. To live is to understand!

Attraction
We are consciously and unconsciously attracted to people, situations, ideas, objects, places ... This may be based on past experiences or genetic wiring. In order to understand we first need to be attracted by that we seek to understand. To live is to be attracted!


Some Meaningful Question:

What is Love? It is a strong connection that comes through understanding and adaptation to each other.
What is falling in love? It can be described in terms of attraction, understanding, connection and adaptation.
What's the perfect couple? Ones that are in love and are able to live and adapt to each other.