Trifecta by Peggy Aycinena
If life is a race track, The weather was fine, the crowds were lively, and the single race of the afternoon included a crowded field of lively contenders more than capable of giving the folks at the track a real run for their money. ******************************************* The Field 1 Son of Martha 2 Cowboy One 3 Bach is Baroque 4 De-cloak 5 String Theory Dismissed 6 Rumor Mill 7 Article No Show 8 Right Stuff ******************************************* Predicted outcome per The Racing Form 2-8-5-7-3-1-4/6 2 to Win by 6 lengths ******************************************* Evaluation
Robert Hum, Vice President of and General Manager of Mentor Graphics' Design Verification & Test Division, is a Canadian through and through. His accent may have mellowed a bit, what with the years living away, but when it comes to speaking of the expectations and solemn oath that all Canadian engineers accept, he's definitely a Son of the Dominion through and through. Unbeknownst to many when engineers graduates with a B.Eng. in Canada, they receive a special ring in their closed-door "Iron Ring Ceremony The Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer" an event that includes a recitation of Kipling's poetic saga, Sons of Martha. The iron in each of the rings per apocryphal reports comes from materials salvaged from the wreckage of the ill-fated Quebec Bridge, which collapsed in 1907, and again in 1916. The purpose of the ceremony, and the Iron Ring, is to remind each and every Canadian engineer that it is their sworn duty to perform to the best of their abilities at all times throughout their professional career. Per the oath, engineering excellence and attention to detail should be the guiding principles in a life spent contributing to the betterment of society and the world around them. Robert Hum is among the many that proudly wear the Iron Ring. By all reports, he continues to take the oath it represents very much to heart.
The last time I saw Burt Rutan was last fall, and he was speaking on the enormous stage at the San Jose Performing Arts Center. His adoring fans were hanging on his every word that evening and nothing had changed when I saw him next speaking last Friday morning at the Mentor Graphics User2User Conference. Rutan took the stage at the Marriott in Santa Clara at 8 AM, spoke until 9 AM, answered questions from the floor until 9:30, and signed autographs until 10. Not a bad performance given that the man is 62 and could probably ask to sit down if he wanted to. But Burt Rutan doesnt want to sit down. He's a man on a mission again. By way of his energy, sense of self-actualization, gutsy engineering, visionary business acumen, scientific thinking-outside-of-the-box mentality, Howard-Hughes-like ability to capture the limelight, and his haberdasher not to mention his barber Burt Rutan is quickly becoming the hottest ticket on the proverbial Distinguished Speakers Circuit. Burt Rutan, of course, is the founder and creative genius behind Scaled Composites, the organization behind SpaceShipOne, described as "the world's first private, manned spacecraft." For those few of you who haven't been paying attention lately, SpaceShipOne flew sub-orbital (to an altitude of 62+ miles) twice within 2 weeks early last summer after years of secret R&D funded in part by a $26 million investment from Microsoft luminary Paul Allen. Thereby Burt Rutan & Company won the coveted $10 million Ansari X Prize. Rutan spares no one when he gives a keynote address not NASA, the FAA, the U.S. Government, the "guys who make metal planes," dullards, cowards, or the folks who sit back on their haunches waiting for others to show them the way to a damn good time and a helluva rocket ride into life and space beyond. Burt Rutan's a cowboy in the finest tradition of the craft. The only thing missing from his get-up when he's speaking is a set of 6-shooters strapped to his thighs. But they're there in spirit. He comes out onto the stage with both barrels blazing, and never stops until he's verbally blasted the entire scientific and engineering establishment into whimpering oblivion. The only surprising thing is that the SRO audience of 600+ at the Mentor Conference as far as I could tell from my straw poll, which consisted of asking the guys on either side of me was made up mostly of people from the military industrial complex. People who work for the large mega-contractors who earn most of their money by selling products and services to the very scientific and engineering establishment that Rutan takes such delicious pleasure out of ridiculing for their stolid, stodgy worldviews. It you've never heard of Burt Rutan before now, I pity you because the world's currently divided into two distinct camps. Those who have never heard of Burt Rutan. And those who have heard of him and would be willing to stand in line for however long it takes just to get his signature. I would be in that second camp. John Cooley was standing in line next to me, and we were not the only ones. Come to think of it, I've never seen a guy give a keynote address at a technical conference before and get a 5-minute standing ovation. Yep that's Burt Rutan. By the way, Rutan is hiring. You gotta have a skillset, of course, relevant to his on-going efforts towards commercial, manned space flight, but more importantly you gotta be a "fire breather." Rutan says he can teach people what they need to know to do the job, but the fire-breathing thing is something you're born with. If he sees it in your eyes, you're in. If not, maybe NASA or the FAA would be interested.
Given that Wednesday had been a busy day and I got back home just in time to turn around and leave again perhaps an all-Baroque program at the S.F. Symphony was a bit much to layer on top of a very busy week. That's not to say that Bach's not great, of course, because he is. But he's no Burt Rutan. Bach made his living for decades being mathematical, inventive, disciplined and prolific (evidencing minimally by his 21 children), but Bach was no rebel. He worked, contributed, and flourished within the musical establishment and his musical point and counter-point reflected a school of 18th-century thinking that showed the world to be an orderly place where the laws of nature governed, men governed the laws of nature, and lofty, disciplined thinking governed the lives of men. Given what you hear when you listen to Bach and to the untrained ear, it can be pretty passionless it's kind of surprising to think he actually fathered even one "Bach-ette," let alone 21. But having said that, Bach was a revolutionary of sorts, in his time. The strictures on his behavior and his output notwithstanding, he was creative, endlessly productive, rigorous, and demanding. Maybe Bach and Burt would have seen eye-to-eye after all. Bach could probably hold his own among fire breathers now and then.
E-mail received Sunday, May 1st Hello - I was browsing your website and saw obviously, the following, which is of course the topic du jour > >> An EETimes article, published on April 12th, details a signed declaration from Lukas van Ginneken, available on a creepy unidentified website regarding his work at Synopsys and his subsequent work at Magma. Synopsys takes van Ginneken's name out of their suit against Magma. Synopsys does not issue a Press Release, but Rex Jackson, Synopsys vice president and general counsel, is conveniently quoted in the EETimes article "In his declaration, Dr. van Ginneken confirms Magma used the inventions he conceived while a Synopsys employee as a technical foundation for Magma's products." The revelation causes a precipitous gasp among Magma shareholders, Magma stock tanks on the 13th, and the emergency press conference for the 14th is organized. At one point during the press conference on the 14th, a Wall Street analyst on the call wishes the folks at Magma "Good luck against the Evil Empire." The Magma CEO declares "This is a war and we understand that and will continue and go on." Several analysts and at least one reporter on the phone call ask the Magma execs if they've got a back-up plan in case some of their flagship products are rendered inert by an unfavorable court judgement. The execs refuse to address the question. A few points - If I may, there is nothing 'creepy' about the website disseminating what is public information (and yes, you or I can buy a subscription for about 8 cents a page to the "proceedings" of the Northern California court reportings/depositions etc etc). This particular individual has posted about 100 pages or so, do the math - and in my (humble) opinion - has done us all a service in that we don't have to go dig around for this information in the (no doubt highly convoluted) court websites. I would urge you to consider your choice of words and do a bit of homework too. - It is interesting concerning the depiction of Synopsys as the 'evil empire'. Hyperbole and over-the-top effusions seem the stock in trade for Wall Street, another reason I'm glad I have as little to do with them as possible. Plus, the verbal diarrhea about 'war' tell me all I need to know about that particular party (not that I didn't...) - You may suggest appearing on their own reality show as a 'backup plan' for Magma management. And yes, this is tongue-in-cheek. I personally think they are guilty as hell, but they have many millions to burn in legal fees ($9 million so far from what I've heard in their most recent 8-K filing on April 28 - out of total Magma cash reserves of $25 million) -- and oftentimes, the best lawyer can win anything. Will "justice" be served.. ? Wait and see.. Don't forget white-collar crime is still a crime - people get hurt etc etc -- but again, only time will tell... (and then perhaps, I can "de-cloak" )
A lifetime ago, I heard Richard Feynman speak at Zellerbach Auditorium on the U.C. Berkeley campus. There were so many people in the auditorium that night, and they loved him so much, it felt truly, truly like a rock concert. Richard Feynman, above and beyond being a Noble-prize winning physicist, was a showman and an entertainer. I remember little about the Quarks & Other Nonsense he was speaking about that evening. What I do remember is that the place was absolutely packed with people who adored him and hung on his every word. It was a crowd that would happily have paid twice as much and waited twice as long to get into the auditorium to be part of the event. It was pretty unforgettable. Last Thursday night, I heard Lawrence Kraus speak at the San Jose Performing Arts Center. Lawrence Kraus, above and beyond being Chairman of the Physics Department at Case Western Reserve University and author of multiple best-selling books including The Physics of StarTrek, is a great speaker and an inspired spokesman for scientific thinking. He ain't too shabby as an entertainer either. When I stood in line after his talk which was well received, by the way to get his autograph, I asked him why he does this. Wouldn't he rather be doing "real science" than being out on the Speakers Circuit entertaining Scientific Groupies. His response was unambiguous. Kraus said he sees it as a mission to get out there and tell people to pursue science and engineering as a career and a way of life. He said he's very concerned that current trends have us moving to a place where evolution will be taught side-by-side with creationism. He said that it's extremely regrettable that respect for good science is diminishing, and he's part of a movement to try to bring us back to our senses and back to our legacy of scientific, rational thought. Krause seems bent on saving the world, one young scientific mind at a time. Wow that's not too far off from Burt Rutan's fire breathers. Both of these guys, Rutan and Kraus, are looking to the youth around them for salvation. Oh and by the way Kraus does not support String Theory. So, for those of you who heard Yale's Brian Green speaking last fall at the San Jose Convention Center, or caught his 3-hour PBS extravaganza celebrating String Theory, you better get in touch with Kraus. Kraus is not a fan of that particular theory and he'll give you a pretty compelling argument about why it just isn't working for him and others even if this is the 100th anniversary of Einstein's Theory of Relativity and wouldn't it be peachy keen if, in this very year, we could finally get a Unified Theory together that would neatly knit gravity, electromagnetism, and the strong/weak/etc. stuff into one cohesive ball of yarn once and for all.
E-mail sent Friday, April 29th. Nanette,
Peggy,
Okay, okay. So last week was incredibly busy and incredibly unproductive. I never got Episode VII DFM Strikes Back finished, let alone published. If it makes you feel any better, I fretted about it a lot. However, luckily by the time I had heard Mentor Graphic's Anthony Nicoli give his keynote address Wednesday morning at the Mentor Graphics User2User Conference at the Marriott in Santa Clara, married those ideas to the Press Q&A session at TSMC Technology Forum Press Luncheon Tuesday at the San Jose Convention Center, and rounded the thing out with notes from the DFM panel at Wescon last month at the Santa Clara Convention Center, I finally had what I needed to composed Episode VII. Having found those pieces, however, it's not like I actually could then find the time to assemble the darn thing. Hence, it wasn't until the end of the week that the article was actually complete, albeit a week later than I had initially intended.
Saving the best horse/jockey combination for last, if you ever get a chance to hear Mike Melvill speak don't miss it. If you're interested in test pilots, sub-orbital flight, aeronautics, handling qualities, avionics, hydraulics, a manual stick, on & off switches, rockets, being slammed back against your seat at >5 Gs, roll, pitch, yaw, feathering, weightlessness, raw speed, flight suits, sunglasses, life after 50, a wife as an equal partner in life, horseshoes, or M&M's Mike Melvill's your guy. Because he's the guy who really actually had some skin in the X-Prize game as in, all of his skin when he rode Scaled Composite's SpaceShipOne into the heavens and back for its maiden voyage and the first of the two requisite flights that won the prize. Melvill piloted the flight that made Burt Rutan a true mega-star. The flight that made NASA stop and re-examine the idea that perhaps commercial space flight was going to be the long-term play in a world that for the last 50 years has been dominated by a huge, increasingly bureaucratic space agency that is per the folks at Scaled Composites more worried about safety and/or failure and the Agency's current inability to please its ever-changing constituency than is warranted given that NASA is supposed to be synonymous with cutting-edge ideas and breakthrough technologies. Mike Melvill is himself a cutting-edge idea. Mike Melvill is himself a breakthrough technology. When he gave the keynote address at the TSMC Technology Forum on Tuesday, he addressed a ballroom at the San Jose Convention Center with upwards of 700 people sitting in rapt attention for the full hour. He talked in that down-to-earth tone of a guy who loves to fly, feels lucky to have had the opportunities he's had in life, and who's grateful that enough engineering was put into SpaceShipOne (with his help, of course) to "guarantee" he could strap himself to the front of a rocket, ride it up into the realm of weightlessness, shut off the rocket, tumble back into the atmosphere, and glide safely back to a 3-point landing on a long landing strip out in the Mojave Desert. The footage he showed during the keynote of the short first flight of SpaceShipOne was some of the grittiest, real engineering footage I've ever seen. Film of his unzipping his jacket pocket and releasing a handful of M&M's into the cabin to prove weightlessness at 62+ miles above earth, was the highlight of the video. Mike Melvill's a gusty guy. No doubt about it. Hear him speak next time he's in town.
The Race Results 8-5-2-1-3-7-6/4 ******************************************* The Race Evaluation Although odds were on Cowboy One to win by 6 lengths, it was actually Right Stuff who blew away the field. It was his 'skin in the game' thing that put him ahead of the pack right out of the gate. He never heard the hot breath of the other contenders on his heels as he left them in his dust and jetted around the track to a commanding win. In fact, track personnel had trouble getting the starting gates out of the way before Right Stuff was upon them, swooshing down the home stretch to win by a mile. The surprise second place in the field went to String Theory Dismissed, who ran an excellent, amazingly skilled race. His combination of material, authenticity, and dedication to the craft of teaching allowed him to Place. Although well behind Right Stuff, and bunched in with the rest of contenders for second place, who ran neck and neck the bulk of the race, String Theory Dismissed finally pulled ahead down the home stretch to finish a length ahead of Cowboy One. Cowboy One, although only a disappointing Show, exhibited great dignity at the finish line. He admitted he had probably underestimated String Theory Dismissed. Nonetheless, he proved to be a noble loser, and said he would study the field in greater detail before his next race on any track. Cowboy One also took a moment to congratulate Right Stuff on his decisive win since they represented the same stable. Son of Martha was surprised and delighted with his fourth-place finish. After the race, he expressed admiration for the Win/Place/Show finishers, and suggested that now that he'd had a small taste of the Sport of Kings, he might be back. He offered that perhaps Right Stuff, String Theory Dismissed, and Cowboy One might want to take note of his presence should they ever be brought into the gates together with him again in the future, eh? Bach is Baroque dropped back on the home stretch, easily ceding third and fourth place to Cowboy One and Son of Martha. Perhaps it was his steady pace, or the fact that nobody can honestly say they're jazzed about gavottes and bourrées after a long day and a big dinner. But no matter the reason, Bach is Baroque was in reasonable contention until the last turn at which time he faded fast and finished fifth. He left the track with his head held high, however, and nodded quietly as he minueted off into the distance. Some thought they heard him murmur, "Of course I'm Baroque, I've had 21 children." Although a personal favorite for some, Article No Show lived up to predictions and finished towards the back of the field proving once again that misery loves company, but nobody loves a procrastinator. Article No Show was sold immediately after the race for only cents on the dollar of the price originally paid for this thoroughbred. Happily as had been predicted, Rumor Mill and De-cloak finished the race dead last due to the vitriolic nature of the current lawsuit "du jour" in the Fraternity Formerly Known as EDA. Many race enthusiasts may be putting their money on one contender or the other in this lawsuit, which is as off-putting as any in recent memory, but there are many others if not whole legions in the industry who wish that the betting could be reserved for races of a different nature. The kind of races that allows you to leave the racetrack exhilarated, believing that you saw a contest between noble steeds and their brave jockeys. The kind of races that truly define A Great Day at The Races ******************************************* Not as a ladder from earth to Heaven, not as a witness to any creed, The Sons of Martha Rudyard Kipling *******************************************
Peggy Aycinena owns and operates EDA Confidential. She can be reached at peggy@aycinena.com
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