IT SHOOK OUR PLANET
It happened on Christmas Day, 2004*. It was the largest earthquake in 40 years. It triggered a tsunami that killed over 200,000 people. It moved islands. And it was powerful enough to tickle our planet.

The blog entry about the Himalayas led me to better understand that deadly earthquake on Christmas Day 2004*. Remember that? It generated a killer tsunami that claimed about 230,000 lives.

(* It was 7 pm, U.S. Central time, on Christmas Day. It was 8 am, at where it occurred (local time), on December 26. Thanks to Malu for catching the original error. I still used Central time since I couldn’t think of a succinct subtitle for December 26.)

According to the Global Seismographic Network (GSN), as quoted by about.com, at every spot on Earth, the ground was raised and lowered by at least a full centimeter. Surface waves traveled around our planet several times before dissipating. ... In effect, the Sumatra earthquake made the Earth ring ... like a hammer rings a bell!

According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), the earthquake occurred near the junction of three tectonic plates: the Indian plate, the Burma plate, and the Australian plate. In the map above, the “A” marker in the center indicates the quake’s epicenter.

(You can enlarge any image by clicking on it. To return to this page, click on the back-arrow of your browser or press the Backspace key on your keyboard.)

This blog entry discussed the origin of the Himalayas. It uncovered that the Himalayas are being formed by the relentless northward push of the Indian plate against the Asian landmass. Right alongside the Indian plate, is the much smaller Burma plate. Apparently, the Burma plate inches northwards too but at a different pace. (Willingham, 2005)

… the players in this megathrust, as geologists call it, were the Indian and Burma plates. For almost 200 years, these two plates have been pressing against one another, moving at the rate our fingernails grow-about 2.5 inches a year. … the Indian plate, after two centuries of pushing, finally slipped about 15 meters in the direction of Indonesia. In the process, it released the tension from butting up against the Burma plate, causing the Burma plate to bounce upward with violent consequences.

Here, with appropriate credit, is a description of the effect the quake caused to our planet.

As a result of the springing Burma plate’s incredible energy release, the oceans gathered up the energy in the form of powerful tsunamis, surging waves that spread from Sumatra to India to East Africa, surging onto shores and wiping out everything in their paths before dragging thousands of people out to sea to their deaths. A fault beginning in the ocean floor opened up along a stretch of 745 miles, about the length of the state of California, and with the upward bounce of the Burma plate, islands and the mainland underwent some major changes.

… most estimate that some small islands in the area shifted as much as 66 feet from their original positions, and the northwestern tip of Sumatra itself may have moved southwest about 118 feet. … The regional capital of Banda Aceh in western Sumatra was still under a few feet of water even after the waves receded, indicating that the city now lies below sea level.

And the Earth itself wobbled. Like a top when you touch it with your finger in the middle of its spin, the planet, whirling in its orbit, may have bobbled a bit when the temblor hit. Most experts agree that such a wobble is likely because of the huge amount of energy released. As for the redrawn maps, experts with hand-held global positioning system devices are attempting to reach some of the areas in question to obtain the new coordinates for the islands around the epicenter.

SUMATRAN EARTHQUAKE LITERALLY SHOOK THE PLANET
Plexus Encyclopedia of Medicine, Science, and Technology. Volume 2, Issue 39. January 17, 2005. Emily Willingham, Ph.D.

As I was drawing the boundaries of the plates, it became apparent that most of the seafloor is already etched with the boundaries. That, indeed, is powerful evidence of the existence of tectonic plates.

Where plates meet, there’s geological activity. In September 2007, for example, I blogged about the four strong earthquakes that hit Indonesia in a 24-hour span.

I find it so humbling to realize that the same movement that creates mountains also causes these gigantic events.

TAG CLOUDS & TEXT CLOUDS

Flickr is among the top 40 most popular websites on the Web today. It’s not surprising since it serves a very useful purpose. Instead of attaching photos to an email, a person can simply upload the photos to Flickr and then refer people to it. Most photos are meant to be shared and after it’s been seen, it’s archived. In short, most photos have a very brief life. Look at them once then move on.

Aside from the typical user, bloggers—like me—use Flickr as a photo repository. As of November 2008, it claimed to host more than 3 billion images. That’s according to Wikipedia (a site even more popular than Flickr).

(You can enlarge any image by clicking on it. To return to this page, click on the back-arrow of your browser or press the Backspace key on your keyboard.)

Flickr was the first popular website that used tag clouds.

What’s a Tag or Text Cloud?

It’s a visual depiction of the word content of a website. The most frequent words are depicted. Additionally, each word in the cloud is emphasized according to its frequency. Numerous variations exist but this is the basic idea.

What’s the difference between a tag and text? Tags are text that are placed at strategic locations in the code that comprise webpages. Tags are important because search engines like Google use tags to add webpages to its database. For an example, look at the bottom of this blog entry. Its tags are: analysis, cloud, depiction, father, flickr, google, photo, psychology, seo, tag, technorati, text, visual, wikipedia.

Since I created those tags, they’re referred to as user-generated tags.

Let’s examine a text cloud example that was created from this paragraph. The word “word” appears seven times. In this paragraph’s text cloud (shown below), the word “word” is emphasized by its size and thickness. The word “word” is the largest and thickest word in this paragraph’s text cloud.

This text cloud was created through Wordle.

The first text cloud above is a one-time depiction of some content found in one of my father’s published books. “One-time” means that it’s a snapshot. It’s a static depiction of content. Dynamic clouds also exist, like the one at Flickr’s. Dynamic clouds update at periodic intervals or on demand. Dynamic clouds are typically created by third-party web-based services such as Technorati or Wowzio. These services are currently free.

This blog’s dynamic cloud is hosted by Technorati. It’s on the left sidebar. The other blog that I maintain has a dynamic cloud that’s hosted by Wowzio. I use two different providers because providers are not always operational. I wanted to spread the risk so if this blog’s cloud doesn’t appear, it will in the other blog.

Cloud Psychology

Clouds are an example of innovation being spurred by a new medium (the Web) running on technology (the Internet). A Stanford student explained it this way:

When we look at a text cloud, we see not only an informative, beautiful image that communicates much in a single glance, we see a whole new perspective on text.

TagCrowd is taking tag clouds far beyond their original function:

• as topic summaries for speeches and written works
• as blog tool or website analysis for search engine optimization (SEO)
• for visual analysis of survey data
• as brand clouds that let companies see how they are perceived by the world
• for data mining a text corpus
• for helping writers and students reflect on their work
• as name tags for conferences, cocktail parties or wherever new collaborations start
• as resumes in a single glance
• as visual poetry

The list goes on and continues to grow.

In the future, TagCrowd will develop into a suite of experimental tools and tutorials that empower social and collaborative uses for text clouds and related visualizations.

Our mission is to push the innovation envelope in online and face-to-face communities of all stripes.

Would you like to play with clouds?

These three sites create static clouds. Enjoy!

1. Wordle — this is my favorite
2. MakeCloud
3. TagCrowd

A BEST PRACTICE FOR BOSSES

One of the more difficult aspects of working for a boss is learning the boss’s communication and decision styles. Considering that the single most significant factor in determining your job satisfaction is your relationship with your boss, it pays to pay attention to that. In turn, when you’re the boss, you should communicate your personal style clearly.

(Dilbert's Pointy-haired Boss, inspired by my PM professor)

Here’s one technique I learned early in my project management “bossing” career from a mentor.

Create a list of guidelines for your team. Its purpose is to communicate the ground rules for interaction. This was one of my early lists.

1. I strongly believe in trust and dependability. If somebody says that they’ll do something, they should. If some unforeseen circumstance interferes, that person has the responsibility of notifying all that will be affected. If s/he wasn’t able to do that before the event, s/he must do it with an apology and explanation as soon as possible. And, may I add, to not do this repeatedly.
2. I will treat you professionally and I expect the same.
3. Refrain from accepting or committing to changes to the project unless you have that authority. All changes must go through the change control process. All requests, regardless of the medium it was sent in (e.g., email) must be transcribed to the official change request form.
4. Email headings. Maximize the use of the subject line. Identify the nature of the message according to its content. An email for action should be labeled ACTION. An FYI should be labeled FYI. Incidentally, I can’t think of any other type of email besides a Call for Action or an FYI. If I missed a category, please advise me.
5. Email headings again. Break the chain! At some point, it becomes silly to continue receiving and sending emails with the same heading over and over again. Here's what I mean: ACTION ----> re: ACTION ----> re: re: ACTION ----> re: re: re: ACTION ----> re: re: re: re: ACTION. Please break the chain!
   
6. Email length. Keep it to several paragraphs if possible. Longer content should be created as a separate document (e.g., Word or Excel) and attached to the email.
7. Email legalese. Our employer can legally monitor all email sent through its facilities. This includes your personal emails.
8. Email ccs and bccs. Refrain from carbon copying (that’s what “cc” stands for) and blind carbon copying (“bcc”) persons who do not need to know. CC-ing me to protect your rear may work but it may also lead me to form an incorrect impression about you.
9. Presentations. We’ve all heard of “death by PowerPoint.” If the expression is unfamiliar, please Google it. Learn how to make effective presentations.
10. Start and end meetings on time. Unless circumstances dictate otherwise, distribute the agenda at least 18 hours before the meeting.
11. It is sometimes easier to seek forgiveness than to ask permission. If you have to make a decision and, for whatever reason, you aren’t able to contact me or another manager, decide in the best interests of the company. You can do it.
12. I enjoy receiving most surprise presents from my family. I do not enjoy most surprises that come from stakeholders, customers, and fellow employees. Please advise me if you see something that should be brought to my attention.
13. Grammar and spelling. There are checkers in MS Word. Please use them. Typos and bad grammar annoy me especially if customers will read them.

DATA CENTERS, PART-3

General remarks about Tier classifications

This photo was taken at one of Google’s data centers.

This is Part-3 about the subject of Tier classification. For Part-4, click here. A new tab or window will open.

To rewind to Part-1, click here. A new tab or window will open.

Would you like to learn the business factors that should be considered in selecting a Tier? Click here to read it. A new tab or window will open.

The tier of a Data Center is determined by the rating of its weakest system. For example, a center with a Tier-4 power configuration that has a Tier-3 cooling subsystem will yield a Tier-3 classification.

The center’s rank is always the lowest of its individual subsystems. It is not the average of the rank of its individual subsystems.

The MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure) of a center’s subsystems is irrelevant in determining the center’s tier. So is the number of components or systems. Here are two examples. The first example compares how a backup set of duplicate chillers can be added to a site. The backup set can be:

• arranged along the same cooling distribution paths, or
• arranged along a second, independent path.

The first arrangement fulfills a Tier-2 center’s criteria. The second arrangement fulfills a Tier-3 center’s criteria.

The second example compares how two separate in-line UPS batteries are controlled. The batteries can be controlled by:

• a common input or output switch, or
• separate independent switches.

Once again, the first arrangement fulfills a Tier-2 center’s criteria and the second arrangement fulfills a Tier-3 center’s criteria. UPS configurations that share the same input or output switch gear almost always require the server room to shut down for routine maintenance. In addition, a common switch creates another single point-of-failure. A Tier-2 center has a duplicate set of critical electrical and cooling equipment. A Tier-3 center has a duplicate set of all components and equipment that supports IT operations. The connectivity, electrical, and mechanical systems, for example, must be in duplicate.

Sites that will be built from the ground up should be designed for a future higher tier level, or at the very least, designed to anticipate future power requirements. The owner should take advantage of the relatively small cost difference between a Tier-3 and -4 infrastructure before the facility is built.

A Tier-4 Data Center can be summarily described as being fault-tolerant and concurrently maintainable. A Tier-4 Data Center will theoretically never go down regardless of the failure of any of its subsystems.

Personnel operations—the main factor in determining sustainability—play the biggest role in the uptime of a Data Center. For that reason tier ranking can only be performed objectively through the center’s topology, architecture, and components. Sustainability factors directly or indirectly account for 70% of all downtime. The performance of individual data centers within the same tier largely depend upon sustainability. The correct implementation of sustainability factors decrease the cost and risk of completing maintenance or hasten the recovery of the center from disruptions.

THE IMPORTANCE OF SUSTAINABILITY

Sustainability largely determines the uptime performance of individual data centers within the same tier. Sustainability factors make the difference between an easy maintenance procedure or a difficult one; between an inexpensive or costly one; and a convenient or awkward one. A difficult, costly, or awkward maintenance procedure increases the chance that it will be delayed or skipped. And missed maintenance increases the chance of equipment or component failure. This section provides examples of infrastructure characteristics that impact sustainability. These characteristics are details of design, IT architecture, or implementation.

1. The ability to switch the power source of all mechanical components so they continue running before starting maintenance work on an electrical panel.
2. The placement of a critical component in a cramped area when it could have been placed elsewhere.
3. The placement of engine power generators and switching gear inside the facility instead of outside will eliminate the effects of weather.
4. The decision to limit the aggregate load on any subsystem to 90% of rated capacity instead of 100% will improve stability and prolong equipment life.
5. Compartmentalization refers to the physical separation of the primary and secondary paths. Tier-4 sites have compartmentalized subsystems. Personnel can attack a fire in the primary path’s area if it's physically separated from the secondary path.