Odd Mugs

The standards group for Object Databases was called the Object Data(base) Management Group. I was the representative for CERN, along with a bunch of database vendors (O2, Poet, Versant, Objectivity etc.)

Chaired by Rick Cattell, the group used to flip between East and West coast - and at least thrice to Europe (Annecy - the "CERN" meeting, Versailles - O2 - and Nice). East coast included the Florida keys and once Providenciales, in the Turks and Caicos Islands. The TCI used to have the slogan "Where on Earth are the TCI?". Noone really seemed to know - the Islands flag used to feature a salt heap, as that was one of the main industries there (they turned out a substantial fraction of the world's salt, until it magically became uneconomic, just about the time of the Cuban missile crisis when it was important to have a military base "nearby". Great Inagua - nearby - still has a working salt industry). Someone this got misinterpreted as an igloo - somewhat unlikely for a Caribbean island.

Although I didn't know it at the time, at least one person previously at the SSCL had bought a property directly on Grace Bay. I soon found out though, when on an otherwise deserted beach, someone walked up to me and started asking questions about HEPDB...

So much for going incognito...