2001
| January 27, 2001 I am sitting in a Synopsys technical update seminar - fundamentals of backend design (ASICs) - to increase or update my knowledge database. I like to keep current on flow - from RTL to wafer fab - on ASIC design. After all, I wrote a book on it. And we were just informed that, in the middle of the most valuable lecture of the past two days, we would be subjected to a rolling blackout. This is courtesy of the California mis-managed power problems. It's 10AM. And sure enough. We were suddenly off grid! No air-conditioning No lights. No dimming. Just OUT. Just the whir of battery-powered computers as the engineers scrambled to shut down. The lecture can continue because the instructor's notebook is on battery power. However, the projector is not. How do you lecture when you have no power? Good question. We have managed to get rid all blackboards. And this room has no white board. Why aren't the electrical generator plants getting back on-line? And when are they putting in new transmission lines to carry the power that we need? Who's in charge? And have they been fired yet? (Actually - it's a leftover from the Reagan years - the republican idea was to make money for the already rich - guess it is succeeding.) We proceed - we have hardcopy notes and the instructor's battery pak is running his view so he can lecture. Most of it anyway. So, do we need a battery-driven projector in the future? Candles? In the middle of all this, some wit mentioned that he learned how to build a projector out of a garbage can and candles on McGiver. We suggested finding candles. We have a garbage can. Synopsys never holds a seminar without food. FEED US! This is a battle cry. Run a lecture late? Supply brownies. Need to go through lunch? Send for pizza! OF course, the kitchen is shut down so lunch will be late. The seminar will stop for this announcement - and profuse apology. Lest people start leaving for the food stores (Jamba, Subway, Deli and pizza) across the street! There is also a coffee shop. Coffee being another requirement for seminar attendees. The big question we circulate now is - should we go solar? Do we start to get our houses on solar panels? Do we convert to electric heating from solar panels? We do this in space. We know. We help people build the circuits that run these things. I will keep in mind that in my next house I want a strong roof - rated for panels. I am giving this serious thought as I remove a jacket. The temperature is rising. This is another problem in a seminar - people must be warm - but not to warm - and cool - but not too cool. But this event this morning is based on the ridiculous. Shut down the high-tech companies. Can we say STUPID! California high-tech drives the nation's economy. Shut us down and you will be selling apples (the fruit, not the computer) on the street! We will be down about an hour - to 90 minutes. I make another note - annotated slides not recommended - because they don't work well with candles. Must remember to talk to someone about that. Also remember how to turn off all animation in a PPT presentation in an emergency. (Confuses the instructor.) (PowerPoint is not a very nice software package - but because it is bundled on the NTs, we all end up with it. MicroSoft has a lot to answer for!) It's now 11AM. Part of the lecture has been scraped - not good. And there is confusion. People are becoming restless. Also not good. Do you know where your power is? When will the CEOs demand action? When will the public wake up? We have aging roads and bridges - and California is repairing bridges no where near fast enough. No where near enough new or wider roads. Read freeway and think LA, SF, and SJ. LA has at least one freeway 20 lanes wide! Packed solid at rush hour! Would that there was one up here! Two lanes across the bay are not enough - and no one can drive the shoulder when the ocean is so far below. We have an obviously ancient and inadequate power grid. If we can find power, we can't deliver it! We have an aging and inadequate water system. We have sewer cave-ins and failures as a routine event now. Man-made sink holes that swallow blocks of houses. They tell us that natural gas shortages are next. My hands are already freezing on my keyboard. Maybe freezing in our houses in the dark will wake us up. We must build. Freeways. Transmission lines. Electrical generation plants. Water reservoirs and recycling / reclamation systems. Alternate fuel. And we must have clean air. Because we need to breathe while sitting at home freezing in the dark. |
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