Monday, September 26, 2011

Oracle Open World is Next Week!

I can't believe another year has passed - Oracle Open World is just next week. What makes this extra exciting? Attendees will get their first official peek at the final Oracle Solaris 11 release.  Both Larry Ellison (Sunday) and John Fowler (Tuesday) will be talking about it, as well as 15 sessions and meet the experts Monday through Friday.

Are you planning to attend?

Friday, September 23, 2011

Grace Hopper Conference is just around the corner!

I can't believe the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing is coming up in November! So soon! Oracle is a silver sponsor of the conference this year, and there are several women from Oracle that are presenting!

Again this year, I'm on the Communities Committee, but this year I'm co-chair! We make sure that major sessions are both blogged and have notes taken, encourage people to tweet, blog, and share on facebook.

I'll also be presenting "Security Attacks, Countermeasures and Protecting Yourself Online!" with Teri Oda, Radia Perlman, Satwant Kaur, and Lindsey Wegrzyn. We've only got a half and hour, so it'll be hard to pack it all in, but I know we'll manage. Better start working on our slides... :-)

Are you coming to the conference? Willing to blog or take notes?

This post syndicated from Thoughts on security, beer, theater and biking!

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Palo Alto Players: Nunsense with a Twist!

This weekend, we went to go see Palo Alto Players' production of Nunsense with a Twist. There are quite a few versions of Nunsense out there, but this was the first one I've seen. The twist, in this case, was that Mother Superior (Sister Mary Regina) was played by Chris Blake... and Chris is not short for Christina. :-)

The basic premise is the nuns are short on cash for a very important project and they are doing a fund raiser, which explains why they are all on stage and singing. Hilarity, of course, ensues, as the show goes on and things just keep going wrong.

What I loved most about this production is that there was no mention or issue made of the fact that Mother Superior was being played by a man... Mr. Blake wore the same shoes as the rest of the ladies and the same habit. They didn't tart him up nor did Mr. Blake act like a man in drag. He was, quite simply, just Mother Superior.

Okay, not "just" - Mr. Blake brought wonderful physical comedy to the show, peppered in his priceless expressions throughout, and even sang wonderfully.

All five cast members were a joy to watch and brought something unique to the production, particularly Charlotte Jacobs as Sister Robert Anne, who really shined in "Growing up Catholic" and "I Just Want to Be a Star".

The show also featured great performances from Juanita Harris (Sister Mary Hubert), Jennifer Martinelli (Sister Mary Amnesia) and Jennifer Gregoire (Sister Mary Leo, the ballerina nun).

Of course, these actors did not direct themselves, nor choreograph their own dances! The wonderful staging and delightful dance numbers deserve kudos as well! Mark Drumm directed and Alexandria Kaprielian choreographed.

I loved that the band was behind the performers, as this theater, like so many poorly designed theaters in the bay area, has no pit for the orchestra. Even behind them, none of the cast struggled with tempo or cut-offs. Definitely a well-oiled machine, kudos to band director Matthew Mattei.

Excellent lighting, of course, as Ed Hunter was behind lighting design, as he is for many shows that I've seen, performed in, or merely heard great things about. (When Mr. Hunter is not lighting a show, he may be playing cello in the orchestra. Definitely a love of theater!)

My only complaint would be about the slow start to the show, which had some awkward audience interaction at the top. I believe they were delaying due to late comers for the show, as parking was particularly difficult that night. Once the show actually started, with Sister Robert Anne welcoming us all to the theater, it was a delight.

One other small nit: On the back page of the program, along with the donation envelopes, there was a bizarre lack of apostrophes. For example, they have a "Producers Circle" level of donors. Instead of either "Producer's Circle" or "Producers' Circle" (depending on how many producers own the circle). Hopefully they'll get that cleaned up for the next production. Maybe I've just been reading Cake Wrecks for too long ;-)

This post is syndicated from Thoughts on security, beer, theater and biking!

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Mary Ann Davidson on Security Auditors

Mary Ann Davidson, Chief Security Officer at Oracle, has just published an outstanding article, Those Who Can't Do, Audit, on companies that are now offering static code analysis as a service and why Oracle won't be turning over any of our code to them. Here at Oracle, security is a core part of every product.

While I do work in the Oracle Solaris Security team, we work on software that are typically seen as performing a security based services. For example, I work on the Oracle Solaris Cryptographic Framework - we provide hardware optimized cryptographic algorithms to applications and the rest of the operating system. A pretty standard security function. But, secure coding standards, in-house static analysis, and security considerations need to be a part of the development of the entire operating system.

I think Ms. Davidson said it best: "Oracle cannot – does not – outsource security."

This post is syndicated from Thoughts on security, beer, theater and biking!

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Bugs in my oatmeal

I made a bowl of oatmeal this morning, threw some fresh black berries on it, and was about to pour milk on top, which I noticed some movement out of the corner of my eye in the clear plastic container we keep the oatmeal in... at first, I thought it was an ant, and wasn't too creeped out. Then I noticed more. I remember getting these things in our flour when I was a kid, though our flour wasn't in an airtight container. All the same, I couldn't eat the oatmeal I had just made (though I did salvage the black berries).

I'm going to pretend that the bugs (and larvae) weren't in there yesterday when I did eat that oatmeal.

Guess we get to clean out our pantry tonight! Ah, so nice to be back from vacation.... ICK!

This post is syndicated from Thoughts on security, beer, theater and biking!