Announcement Archive

3 January 2005

Heaven is a better place today. RIP Angela Aebig, beloved wife of Patrick Casey and friend to many. Angela was tragically killed on 23 December 2004 outside Kingston, Ontario, as she and Pat were travelling to Lindsay to be with his family for Christmas. I only met Angela once, at Chris's wedding, but I would have seen them in Toronto for the New Year under the original circumstances. My condolences to her family and to Pat and his family.

7 December 2004

A story on Slashdot today about the illiteracy of Corporate American E-mail (links to news.com, which has an article from the New York Times on the issue). Spelling and grammar, while not necessarily things I have a complete mastery of, are things I find fairly important, and it's a peeve of mine to read through horrendous idioms, cell-phone style shorthand, "l33tspeak" and other hallmarks of modern communication, particularly when grading written assignments or reviewing papers. A link from the comments section associated with the story is to one of the most important essays ever written on the use of English, George Orwell's Politics and the English Language. His assertion is that fuzzy, unclear writing is one of the hallmarks of the Fascist state, and given the euphamisms and hackneyed phrases we are so often presented with (e.g., "enemy combatants", "evildoers", "restructuring") whose objective is to obscure and confuse, this essay is perhaps even more relevant today than it was sixty years ago.

Lyric of the day:
Poets, priests and poiticians
Have words to thank for their positions
Words that scream for your submission
And no one's jamming their transmission
-- "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da", The Police

6 December 2004

A sad anniversary today; it's been 15 years since the massacre at l'Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal. Fourteeen of our engineering sisters were gunned down that day by a man who claimed his life was ruined by feminists. Whether men can be feminists or not is an issue of contention; I'm inclined to think that they can, and would like to consider myself in that vein, but others might disagree. What there is little contention with, though is that more needs to be done to keep women safe and free to pursue a life of equal opportunity and respect. See the worthy causes page for more information. The issue of women in engineering is also something we must consider, and how to overcome barriers to entry and success in these programs. (Image taken from www.whiteribbon.ca.)

28 October 2004

Rudimentary photos from homecoming are online (and a few photos from the top of the Thousand Islands Skydeck).

24 October 2004

Another one of my best friends, Vinayini Murty, is engaged to Vinai Kash, with the wedding to follow in India this February. Congratulations! (I feel so old...)

22 September 2004

Reminder for Queen's University alumni: homecoming for the class of '99 is one month away; hopefully I'll see you there!

8 September 2004

I'm a delegate to the Graduate Student Association, representing Computer Science and Engineering. I'm also serving on the Academic and International Students committees. Should you have questions or problems relating to any of those areas, please feel free to contact me.

7 September 2004

I've been named to the program committee of CCS 2004, industry track, to be held in Washington, DC, October 25-29, 2004.

1 September 2004

This year marks the 250th anniversary of Columbia University's existence. The yearlong celebrations end October 2; included in the festivities is the homecoming football game against Princeton. (A nod to the fact that this year also marks the 200th anniversary of the duel between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton, who were Princeton and Columbia graduates, respectively.) The campus looks really nice right now, so if you're in New York, go have a look. More information here.

30 August 2004

I'm a teaching assistant for CSE 331, Computer System Architecture. Check the course page for location and time of office hours.

26 August 2004

My eight-month tenure as an intern in the Secure Systems Group at AT&T Labs-Research has come to an end; I'm now officially a doctoral student at the Pennsylvania State University in University Park, PA.

15 August 2004

I'm happy to announce that one of my best friends, Chris Edwards, has married Lorraine Mar. The wedding was July 31, 2004, in Lindsay, Ontario. I was fortunate enough to be in the wedding party, and the service was heartfelt and moving. I wish Chris and Lorraine a lifetime of happiness. Online photographs are forthcoming.

20 February 2003

I've got some good news to share. One of my oldest and dearest friends, Shoshanah, was married on February 16, 2003, in Chicago. Her husband Elliot is a great person and they appear well on their way to a well- deserved life of joy and happiness. The pictures from their wedding can be seen at this site (look for Weddings: Webb-Cohen).

1 May 2002

I met Rhianon Shepherd while in my first year of undergraduate study at Queen's University; she was attending teacher's college and we lived on the same floor of the residence hall. Along with her warmth and humour, she was a great outdoorswoman and taught me CPR - for years, the card that I'd earned in her course certifying my knowledge, complete with her approving signature, graced my wallet. On March 6, 2002, Rhianon was killed in a car accident while on her way to work at Markham District High School. The Queen's Alumni Review ran a brief note about her life with some links to additional information. You can read the article here.

11 September 2002

Words and images about September 11, 2002

kbutler at cse.psu.edu