Raymond P. Burkholder - Things I Do - Life

Sleep

nospam@example.com (Raymond P. Burkholder) — Wed, 24 Jan 2024 03:51:39 +0000

SPAND: Sleep Prediction Architecture using Network Dynamics

Sleep behavior significantly impacts health and acts as an indicator of physical and mental well-being. Monitoring and predicting sleep behavior with ubiquitous sensors may therefore assist in both sleep management and tracking of related health conditions. While sleep behavior depends on, and is reflected in the physiology of a person, it is also impacted by external factors such as digital media usage, social network contagion, and the surrounding weather. In this work, we propose SPAND (Sleep Prediction Architecture using Network Dynamics), a system that exploits social contagion in sleep behavior through graph networks and integrates it with physiological and phone data extracted from ubiquitous mobile and wearable devices for predicting next-day sleep labels about sleep duration. Our architecture overcomes the limitations of large-scale graphs containing connections irrelevant to sleep behavior by devising an attention mechanism. The extensive experimental evaluation highlights the improvement provided by incorporating social networks in the model. Additionally, we conduct robustness analysis to demonstrate the system's performance in real-life conditions. The outcomes affirm the stability of SPAND against perturbations in input data. Further analyses emphasize the significance of network topology in prediction performance revealing that users with higher eigenvalue centrality are more vulnerable to data perturbations.

Alberta Weather & Electric

nospam@example.com (Raymond P. Burkholder) — Sun, 14 Jan 2024 16:43:21 +0000

Alberta Electric System Operator
Alberta Current Supply Demand Report
aeso Real Time Dashboard
aeso events - with intra-day system marginal price
AccuWeather
AESO Transmissiohn Capability Map

SkyScanner

nospam@example.com (Raymond P. Burkholder) — Sun, 27 Aug 2023 01:21:52 +0000

How to use SkyScanner to find Cheap Flights

Restful Sleep Formula

nospam@example.com (Raymond P. Burkholder) — Wed, 05 Jul 2023 16:39:16 +0000

There is a company called the 'Wellness Company'. They suggest the following natural ingredients, rather than using Melatonin for assistance with sleep:

Passion Flower to relax and promote an easy start to your sleep routine.
Rafuma Leaf stabilizes the mind and prepares it for restful sleep.
Kava mitigates the impacts of stress as you wind down.
Chamomile for its time-tested properties of providing a gentle calming effect on the brain and body.
Valerian Root to help reduce anxiety.
Ashwagandha Root to help regulate the negative impacts of daily stress on your immune system.

They are saying that the hormone-based supplement Melatonin has risks such as: sleep-wake cycle disruption, hormonal effects, drug interactions, dependence & tolerance, as well as purity concerns.

Dive Bombed by an Aerial Rodent Hunter

nospam@example.com (Raymond P. Burkholder) — Sat, 29 May 2021 21:14:50 +0000

While out for a run this afternoon, I hear the swoop of wings. Very, very close. Looking up, I see a large bird climbing back up from the pass, circling back around, and diving in for another overhead pass. Two, three, four, five feet miss, max. I think that happened five or six times. Second last time, I involuntarily ducked, it was that close. That bird had no fear. I felt I could have reached up and plucked the bird from the air!.

Types of Knowing

nospam@example.com (Raymond P. Burkholder) — Mon, 28 Dec 2020 21:26:26 +0000

In military thinking, there is a simple framework of four types of knowing:

There are things you know that you know.
There are things you know that you don't know but you can know them, by reading, listening, talking to somebody, and so on.
There are unknown knowns. There are things which you definitely are going to know someday, for example, the cause of somebody's death before it happens. However, you don't know it now.
There are unknown unknowns. There are threats, which you don't know, which in turn you don't know they exist. Once they come, you don't know which form they take.

Unfortunately, with security, it gets worse. With these four vectors, we've got another four types of knowing:

We can stay confused.
We can stay in doubt for what we do.
We can stay afraid of compliance punishments, security risks. Your boss being angry at you overspending your budget.
We can be risk averse. We can just pretend that nothing is wrong.

Reference: Designing Secure Architectures the Modern Way, Regardless of Stack

Notable link: Implementing a Staged Approach to Evolutionary Architecture

Such is Life

nospam@example.com (Raymond P. Burkholder) — Sat, 05 Sep 2020 19:20:30 +0000

From my experience it's actively monitored by an individual named Devlin Null. His friends call him Dev.

Dev's backup is Helen Waite. If you expect them to take action, you can go to Helen Waite.

Vinegar, salt, warm water to fight pathogens

nospam@example.com (Raymond P. Burkholder) — Thu, 26 Mar 2020 17:45:01 +0000

It is said that fruits and vegetables need to be washed prior to use. Yes, washing can probably get rid of most dirt and grind, but does washing actually make vegetables and fruit safer? Is there a better way to remove pathogenic microorganisms?

I came across How to eat raw beet greens safely? where there is a section discussing "Vinegar, salt, warm water to fight pathogens":

Vinegar has an antibacterial action, inhibiting bacterial growth.

In a study, scientists combined the use of vinegar and sodium chloride (salt). This solution was effective for the prevention of bacterial food poisoning.

Another study measured the effectiveness of vinegar against bacteria, such as Escherichia coli.

Researchers measured the antibacterial action of vinegar depended to:

presence of sodium chloride (the common salt) and
temperature

When scientists used 2.5% acetic acid (vinegar) at 20°C, they had to wait 739 min for the inactivation of pathogens.

This time shortened to 5.27 min by just adding 5% sodium chloride (salt).

Amazing…Just by adding salt, the time shortened to 1/140.

The results were even more astonishing when scientists used warm water.

Only with the use of 2.5% vinegar and warm water at 40 ^oC, the inactivation time was just 14.4 min. Less than a quarter of an hour…

What happened when scientists combined vinegar, salt, and warm water?

The inactivation time was only 0.89 min… Less than a minute…

Build a Pandemic Preparedness Kit

nospam@example.com (Raymond P. Burkholder) — Sun, 22 Mar 2020 18:20:51 +0000

From Tools For Survivial:

Prevention—What You Can Do

Distance yourself from or avoid people and crowds. If you must go out, stay at least six feet away from individuals.
Wash your hands for at least 30 seconds using soap and water frequently, but especially after using the bathroom, before cooking, and after shopping, opening doors, touching elevator button and grocery carts.
Don’t panic or buy into the hysteria. Stay vigilant and research. The info being disseminated in the beginning is usually wrong.
Get vaccinated.
Self-quarantine.
Cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze—preferably into your arm or elbow, not your hand.
Wash your sheets and pillowcases every few days in hot water.
Germs can live on surfaces for days. Disinfect surfaces regularly with bleach. Wipe down your desk, door knobs, handles, light switches, and elevator buttons at the office regularly with cleaning wipes.
Heed the warning. Pay attention to advisories and take precaution. It is better to be safe than sorry. Stay inside if you must—you and others can spread disease without feeling sick or showing symptoms.
Do not go to the hospital unless it is an emergency. Medical resources will deplete. Hospitals and doctor’s offices are hot beds of sickness. If you can, take advantage of your insurance’s call in service if available.

Continue reading "Build a Pandemic Preparedness Kit"

Covid19 Notes

nospam@example.com (Raymond P. Burkholder) — Wed, 18 Mar 2020 00:33:01 +0000

Coronavirus Tech Handbook - provides a space for technologists, civic organisations, public & private institutions, researchers and specialists of all kinds to collaborate on a rapid and sophisticated response to the coronavirus outbreak and subsequent impacts. It is a quickly evolving resource with thousands of active expert contributors.
FireMountain - links for information
Flight Info - The flights have been found to have a passenger confirmed to have COVID-19.
HealthLinkBC - Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) also known as 2019-nCov, originated from Wuhan, China, but has spread to a number of countries including to Canada. The risk to British Columbians remains low.
COVID-19 projects looking for volunteers - These projects were posted by the community. Volunteer yourself or create a new one.
FluTrackers - tracking Infectious Diseases since 2006
Coronavirus COVID-19 Global Cases by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University (JHU)
Johns Hopkins University (JHU) - better link to the map
WorldOMeter - COVID-19 Coronavirus Outbreak
The Prepared - If you’re worried about the SARS-COV-2 coronavirus outbreak or feel unprepared, this guide is for you. Experts explain what you should do to get ready, how to protect yourself, what researchers believe are the likely scenarios going forward, and the latest fact-checked news.
Imperial College COVID-19 Response Team - Impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) to reduce COVID-19 mortality and healthcare demand - Here we present the results of epidemiological modelling which has informed policy making in the UK and other countries in recent weeks. In the absence of a COVID-19 vaccine, we assess the potential role of a number of public health measures –so-called non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) – aimed at reducing contact rates in the population and thereby reducing transmission of the virus.
Italian town's experiment leads to no new coronavirus cases in almost a week - Vò, a town of 3,300 just outside Venice, was part of an experiment that involved aggressive testing and quarantine measures. Every single resident was tested for coronavirus in late February when Northern Italy was first rocked by the outbreak, and three percent of inhabitants were found to be carrying the virus.
TRSA - COVID-19 resources webpage for TRSA members in the linen, uniform and facility services industry.
European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control - Preparedness planning is essential in order to respond effectively to outbreaks and epidemics. Sharing and aligning activities at European and international level in the area of public health emergency preparedness adds value to the efforts of single countries to strengthen their capacities and ensure coordinated and effective support when faced with cross-border health threats.
Persistent Defenses Against the Wuhan Virus - by Howard Philip - Presented here for your consideration is a set of simple self-help measures you can implement to dramatically improve your chances of avoiding the deadly Wuhan virus, ranging from behavioral adjustments to the application of readily available materials and chemicals - real or fake?
Federal Reserve Bank of New York - Coronavirus Resource Center - We have created this resource center where individuals, businesses, and non-profits can find out what’s available to them at the federal, state, and city level. This hub will be regularly updated to connect our communities with the necessary resources.
GitHub repo for Wall Street Bets as they analyze the failures resulting from the virus.
Genomic epidemiology of novel coronavirus - provides regular updates of virus evolution
Coronavirus: Guidance for Better Mental Health - Self-care is vital, and it’s also important to try and reduce the stress for ourselves and others around us.

Continue reading "Covid19 Notes"

Number Base

nospam@example.com (Raymond P. Burkholder) — Sun, 04 Aug 2019 02:03:49 +0000

Q: Why do programmers confuse Halloween and Christmas?
A: Because OCT 31 == DEC 25.

A Cloud On Three Switches - A Talk at Calgary UNIX Users Group

nospam@example.com (Raymond P. Burkholder) — Fri, 05 Apr 2019 06:24:43 +0000

In this case, the three switches are special purpose appliances running Linux and containing a series of interchangeable network ports. In this session, I am going to sketch out some of the subsystems and open-source tools I've used to build a redundant/resilient router/firewall/monitoring solution on these appliances. In addition, I will describe how I was able to fully automate the build of the solution. The result being a fully documented and repeatable build. The design allows any one of the three switches to be rebuilt while the other two handle production. The end result is a template for building cost-effective, horizontally-scalable virtualization solutions.

Slide deck for the presentation has been posted at Cloud Monitors Cloud.

Raymond Burkholder is the founder of One Unified Net Limited. This has allowed him to take on a variety of challenges in network design, software development, and systems automation. His most recent stint was in Bermuda where he consulted on infrastructure for re-insurance companies, transitioned to handling day to day technical operations of an ISP, and moved on to optimizing the performance of the network, storage, monitoring, and virtualization infrastructure of a data center. He is now back in Canada taking a brief respite while looking for his next opportunity.

Raymond has a personal blog at https://blog.raymond.burkholder.net

Place 800

800 - 6 Ave. S.W.
Plus-15 Conference Room

There is $2 parking after 16:00 one block north-east of the meeting location, in the underground parkade at McDougall Centre.

5:30 PM, Tuesday, April 23, 2019

Snacks at 17:30. Meeting begins at 18:00.

Attendance is free for CUUG members, or $10 (cash only) at the door for non-CUUG members.

Happy Quote

nospam@example.com (Raymond P. Burkholder) — Sun, 02 Dec 2018 22:08:50 +0000

From a mailing list:

To the thief who stole my anti-depressants: I hope you're happy
-- seen somewhere on the Internet on a photo of a billboard

Tag Lines

nospam@example.com (Raymond P. Burkholder) — Sun, 01 Jul 2018 01:21:08 +0000

Q.  Which is the greater problem in the world today,
    ignorance or apathy?
A.  I don't know and I couldn't care less.

"If was one thing all people took for granted, was conviction that if you 
 feed honest figures into a computer, honest figures come out. Never doubted 
 it myself till I met a computer with a sense of humor."
                             Robert A. Heinlein, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

hope for the best, plan for the worst

Never assume malice ("on purpose") something which can be adequately explained by incompetance.

Hydration

nospam@example.com (Raymond P. Burkholder) — Wed, 13 Jun 2018 17:57:33 +0000

I recently picked up and browsed through a book called "Quench" by Dana Cohen and Gina Bria. They discuss how the hydration role of water can be optimized. Bottom line, it isn't about consuming large amounts of water. Rather, it is about how best to deliver water to the body's cells, even if delivered in less quantity.

A long while ago, I had cut down on my intake of table salt during meals. Excess salt tended to change the taste of food, and I was interested in tasting food based upon the original preparation. Cutting back on table salt is considered a good thing. But the body still needs electrolytes. Instead of consuming table salt during meals (where table salt typically is processed), the book recommends using a pinch of natural salt in water in the morning.

Natural salt could be selected from:

Sea Salt
Celtic Sea Salt
Rock Salt
Himalyan Salt

A morning hydrating drink could be:

8 to 12 oz. of plain or coconut water
ping of natural salt
squirt (0.5 to 1.0 oz) of lemon or lime juice
teaspoon of honey or maple syrup

In the book, they create a recipe called the Tara Fix:

12 oz water
1 or 2 teaspoons of ground chea seeds (omega-3s)
4 ox kombucha
1 pinch of sea or rock salt

The book is loaded with information and background on the how's and why's of how this works.