HKP

Bay Area people and those somewhat knowledgeable about computer science will have heard about the disappearance of Jim Gray in his boat, Tenacious, in the Pacific last week, as he was on a sail to scatter his mother's ashes.

Gray is/was one of the most pivotal people in the development of the field. Among other things, he developed the ability of computers to perform transactions we all use everyday, such as ATMs, etc., not to mention the basis for such operations as Googling, etc. (A somewhat more expert description of his contribution is on audio at NPR via RealPlayer: http://tinyurl.com/3cr5je )

Although the Coast Guard abandoned the search over the weekend, Gray's colleagues, friends, etc. and NASA and GoogleEarth have set up a collaborative effort to look at satellite images to see if he or his boat can be found. If you're curious or willing to try to help, go to: tinyurl.com/2bhgcm

NOTE: When I previewed to check whether the tinyurl translations had worked, they come up in duplicate form, for some reason. Can't seem to fix that but the second form of each url seems to be the one that works.)

HKP

(OK disregard the note -- on final posting, the url only appears once.)

HKP

ttt

LoveItaly

Hello HKP, the url always shows up twice when using "Preview My Reply" but not when you post. Strange.

I have been very aware of the missing Jim Gray and pray that he is found. I can only imagine the stress and anxiety that his loved one are going through.

soccr

This is so sad. He was, according to a friend who knows/knew him, one of the nicest guys you could imagine. I wonder if people are reporting anything on that website with the satellite pix.