Tag Archives: 2013

Vint Cerf at Purdue

April 5, 2013Jack's Travel, Web Programming2013, Computer Science, Purdue, Purdue University, Vint CerfJack Kozik

Background on my Vint Cerf at Purdue posting: I attended the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Computer Science department at Purdue University. It was an excellent chance for me to see former professors, alumni and attend a day of presentations by distinguished lecturers, including Vint Cerf, on of the founders of the Internet.

Vint Cerf at Purdue on “Political, Economic, Social and Technical (PEST) Impacts of the Internet”

He told the story of how the Internet was founded. He very modestly discribed his role and shared a bunch of factoids on the growth of the Internet and some new initatives.

Some topics that caught my attention: IPv6, internationalization (UTF-8), new gTLD, DNSSec, Sensor Networks, Smart Grid, Mobile Devices, poisoned caches, routing system hijacking, a laptop integrated into a surf board (surfing while surfing), digital vellum, Openflow and content based routing, MOOC, etc.

Interplanetary Internet

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTmYm3gMYOQ&w=300&h=180]

He was particularly excited telling his story behind interplanetary internet. He described the problem of transmitting a packet to Mars where the propagation distance can vary between 7-40 minutes of round trip delay, or even worse given that the planet rotates out of coverage once per Mars day. He described that space craft in the future will be designed to perform deep space network relaying for the benefit of follow on missions.

He was particularly stuck by a meeting with a librarian who showed him a perfectly preserved manuscript from over a 1000 years ago. He was challenged to show them any computer-based storage technology that can hold its meaning for a 1000 years (let alone 10)! He said that Internet needs to create a Digital Vellum.

Do Anything Differently?

A member of the audience asked what was wrong with the original Internet design and what he would do differently? The question was received with some laughter because it implied that Internet designer had done a less than perfect job, but in good spirit he answered: IP address space and security.

For IP addresses, they discussed number of countries, number of sites, and numbers of servers, based on creating something that mirrored the DARPA net. 32 bits was more than enough. They debated variable vs fixed length, and they decided that since the Internet was a research project that they could revisit the decision if they ever decided to productize the design.

For security, they had a whole nicely designed security solution worked-out with the military. It never got put into the Internet because noone had sufficient security clearance to know what the security architecture was going to be. Further, the original paper by Martin Hellmen, et al (Diffie-Hellmen Key Exchange) didn’t come out until the late 70s. If it had been around, they would have used it.

Another question from a student in the audience: (paraphrasing) … if the internet is connected to your bathroom scale, your refrigerator and everything in your refrigerator is RFI tagged, then what’s to stop the government from locking your refrigerator if you weigh too much? This question was asked very sincerely. Vint gave a good answer that said this question has been asked since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution around how machines are taking over our lives. He referred the student to a 1909 book called “The Machine Stops,” by E. M. Forester.

Video of Vint Cerf at Purdue

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-8lXXzQ1e8 ]

Purdue posted a nice introductory video of Vint’s presentation; it’s only the first 3 minutes. At some point, I’d like to get Vint’s ppt slides and maybe a pointer to his full presentation. I’ll post here if I can.

I was honored to sit at his table for dinner. We shared a brief conversation about Google’s Serge LaChapple and his WebRTC project. Vint was very excited about it.

Lawson Computer Science Building

Backyard Birds from February Snow Days 500mm f/4 lens

March 21, 2013Photography2013, 500mm, 500mm f/4, Backyard Birds, BirdwatchingJack Kozik

It’s fun to put out bird food during a snow storm. The backyard birds come out and make for some very nice photos.

There were two big snows in February. It was very common to see Backyard Birds like Cardinals, Nuthatches, Black-capped Chickadees, Starlings, and Goldfinches. And of course whenever you put out bird food, it’s only a matter of time before the neighborhood squirrel comes over and wolfs down the bird food.

The images in this posting are all taken with my 500mm f/4 lens. The birdfeeder is on our patio and I setup a tripod in the kitchen. The photos are taken through our new bay window.

I did have a few challenges. It was windy outside, so the branches were wiggling back and forth. The birds were not sitting still. And, the sky was over cast so it was a challenge get the right mix of shutter speed and aperature. Most of my images had some blur. I am fairly new to bird watching but I’ve been really getting into it as a hobby. There is something incredible about connecting with nature. I’ve also been reading a lot about birding on https://learnbirdwatching.com/ and I’ve been able to a learn a lot of information on birds and this has helped me with my photography as well.

[Show as slideshow]

Old Jaffa Walking Tour

March 7, 2013Uncategorized2013, Israel, Jaffa, Joppa, night, Old Jaffa, Tel Aviv, Walking, YafoJack Kozik

Background for my Old Jaffa Walking Tour: We were in Tel Aviv for a week’s worth of business meetings. After our last meeting, we took a pre-dinner ride a couple of miles south to start our brief Old Jaffa Walking Tour.

Our hotel is located in Tel Aviv, right on the Mediterranean. From our hotel we can faintly see the clock tower from St. Peter’s Church and the Minaret of Al-Bahr Mosque / Sea Mosque. Even though our hotel and Jaffa are both on the Tel Aviv Promenade, a stretch of boulevard full of people out for the evening, we decided to save time and took a taxi to Jaffa.

Our taxicab driver took us to the Abrasha Park at the top of the hill named Tel Yafo in Old Jaffa. We walked around and saw some interesting sites: a small park area with a sculpture named “The Gates of Faith,” “Tel Yafo Excavation” — an archaeological dig of an egyptian fortress, the “Wishing Bridge,” St Peter’s Church.

We started walking down the Jaffa Hill, following the Mifrats Shlomo Promenade, the walk way closest to the water. We saw the Minaret of Al-Bahr Mosque / Sea Mosque, a beautiful view of the Tel Aviv night-time cityscape, Arab Hebrew Theatre of Jaffa.

When we got to the bottom of the hill we wandered among small food market along Yefet Street near the HaPishpeshim Market area. We walked to the North East entrance of Old Jaffa and saw the Jaffa clock tower then took a taxi back to our hotel.

Jaffa is a port city that dates back 1440BC, with archaeological evidence suggesting its origins go back to 7500BC. This is a nice small place to visit.

Tips:

The Old Jaffa hill isn’t that big, but if you are pressed for time, I recommend doing what we did and have your taxi drop you off at the top of the hill and walk down. If at all possible, do a little bit of research before you go; there’s lots of history right in front of you; if you don’t read beforehand or have a guide, you will miss the significance of this beautiful harbour town. Link to Jaffa WIKI

We went there early evening; it had just turned dark. In Abrasha Park and on the promenade along the water way, there were lots of people, siteseers like us and families going out to dinner. We felt very safe.

[Show as slideshow]

Old City of Jerusalem Tour – Jewish, Muslim, Christian and Armenian Quarters

March 4, 2013Jack's Travel2013, Israel, Jerusalem, Old City of Jerusalem, WalkingJack Kozik

Background on my Old City of Jerusalem Tour: I was in Tel Aviv on business and for my first day, my host arranged with the hotel for me to take their semi-private Old City of Jerusalem Tour.

Our guide met three of us in the lobby of our hotel. We drove to Jerusalem. For our first stop he took us to Mount Scopus. It’s on the northeast side of Jerusalem, looking down on the Old City. From there, he pointed out the sights we will soon be walking by, most notably, the Dome of the Rock, on the Temple Mount / Haram esh-Sharif religious site.

We drove to the southwestern corner of the Old City of Jerusalem and parked outside the walls at the Zion Gate, just outside of the Armenian Quarter on Mount Zion. Nearby we saw the Dormition Abbey, Room of the Last Supper (Franciscan Church of the Coenaculum) and the Tomb of King David.

Jewish Quarter. We entered the Jewish Quarter from the Zion Gate, walked North along the narrow Habad Street to the Cardo, the Roman market place excavated in the 1970s. We then made our way over to the Hurva Synagogue and the Wohl Archaeological Museum. And from there, we made it to one of the major destinations: The Western Wall (aka Wailing Wall, or Kotel). From here we are right next to the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock which we first saw on Mount Scopus.

Muslim Quarter. We then started walking North along El Wad street in the Muslim Quarter. This then connected with the Via Dolorosa, where the first stations of the cross are marked. We followed Dolorosa, turned down Beit HaBad street, then made our way to Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Christian Quarter.

Christian Quarter. The church is built on the Hill of Calvary the place where Jesus was crucified and buried. After we toured the historic church, we continued our tour, walking by the Church of the Redeemer, Omar Mosque and then settled in for shopping and lunch on the Muristan market street.

Armenian Quarter. We then walked West to the The Citadel, Tower of David medieval fortress, near the Jaffa Gate in the Armenian Quarter. We walked South along Armenian Patriarchate Street, visited the Cathedral of St James, then headed South back to the Zion Gate and to our car.

Our tour guide did an excellent job explaining the history, the different religious view points, and made it all exciting and fun. By the time I was done, it became a big blur of one historic site blending into another. Seeing things 3000 years old next to other things that were 1000 years old, next to things that were built 100 years ago was really cool!!

Tips:I recommend anyone who comes here to first do some homework. Watch a tourist video or study a tour guide. I was glad I took lots of pictures and GPS tagged everything; it was only after my tour and I started putting captions on my pictures did I realize the significance of what I was seeing. If you come to the Old City, please do some homework and hire a guide. The experience is life changing!