Earl Killian’s Web Page

My name is Earl Killian. This is my personal web page. I like to read (history, politics, fiction, science, science fiction), and these pages contain pointers to a few books I recommend and pointers to interesting things on the web. I like to muse on the way things should be and these pages include some of my thoughts and ideas. I am vegan and a supporter of animal rights, and these pages include a few quotes and pointers on these subjects. I have a strong interest in technology and public policy that will eliminate the world’s greenhouse pollution. I have three battery-only powered electric vehicles (a Nissan Leaf, a and a Tesla Model S 85, and a Solectria Force), and these pages have some EV analysis. I do not currently have a fossil car. I once built a solar (passive solar heating plus PV), straw bale home, but I no longer live there. I currently live in Los Altos with Puffle, a Labrador Retreiver who runs my life. My current home has three solar systems (PV, domestic hot water, and pool) and a heating/cooling retrofit. Finally, my politics, values, and essays here reflect my interest and appreciation for non-violence and pacifism.

The opinions expressed herein are my own and do not reflect upon any organization, despite any association I might have.

Monthly Quote

Quote for December:

A good traveler has no fixed plans
and is not intent upon arriving.
A good artist lets his intuition
lead him wherever it wants.
A good scientist has freed himself of concepts
and keeps his mind open to what is.

Thus the Master is available to all people
and doesn’t reject anyone.
He is ready to use all situations
and doesn’t waste anything.
This is called embodying the light.

What is a good man but a bad man’s teacher?
What is a bad man but a good man’s job?
If you don’t understand this, you will get lost,
however intelligent you are.
It is the great secret.

— Tao Te Ching, translated by S. Mitchell

About Earl

• Contact information
  • Addresses, phone numbers, PGP key, etc.
    (for friends only—password protected)
  • My old resume (PDF: 4KB)
    (for friends only—password protected)
    (but I am not looking for employment at this time)
• Off-site pages of mine
  • Earl Killian on LinkedIn
  • Earl Killian on Yelp
  • Earl Killian on Facebook
  • Earl Killian on Twitter
  • Earl Killian on Google+
• My collections
  • Collected Quotes
  • Past Quotes of the Month
  • Best of rec.food.veg, IMHO
  • Covered passages of Paris walk
  • Mathematical Formulas (use Mozilla to display MathML, explorer isn’t up to it)
  • Links to original publications in science and mathematics (very small right now)
  • My web links (bookmarks, old)
  • Software for download
    • Source code tarballs
      • Speedup of Berkeley MPEG player
    • Perl programs and modules
    • Emacs code
  • Recommended reading — My Favorite Books
    • Non-Fiction
    • Fiction
  • My Icon collection (approximately 400K download)
• My writings
  • Recent publications
    • Improving Instruction Delivery with a Block-Aware ISA
      (I didn’t write the paper, but I suggested the research, so I got listed as an author.)
  • Occasional Commentary (last updated 31 July 2013)
  • U.S. Political Glossary (non-conventional)
  • Aphorisms and Short Thoughts
  • My recipe for how to change things (politics etc.)
  • My notes on U.S. Presidents (the good, the bad, and the ugly)
  • My notes on U.S. Supreme Court decisions (the good, the bad, and the ugly)
  • Why I am vegan
  • SF story backdrops
• Personal stuff
  • Reading queue
  • Recently read books
  • Reference book purchases
  • Courses on tape queue (on cassette tape or CD for listening in the car)
    • Classics of American Literature, Parts I-VII, by Arnold Weinstein
  • Planning to buy (courses on cassette or CD for the car)
    • none at this time
  • Recent courses on tape
• Major programs that I’ve authored or worked on
  • Pixie, predecessor Moxie, and successor Mixie, and associated tools pixstats, moxstats, and mixstats
  • MIPS u-code compiler procedure integrater
  • MIPS u-code compiler code generator (co-author John Ho)
  • Pastel — an off-color language and Pascal compiler (primary author Jeff Broughton)
  • Amber — an operating system for the LLNL S1 project (many authors)
  • Praxis — language definition and implementation (with Bob Morgan and Art Evans)
  • BBN Satellite IMP (minor role)
  • ITS Emacs (the original, in TECO) — a 1% contributor (primary author Richard M. Stallman)
  • CRTSTY
  • Trantor — Communications operating system (with Charles Frankston and Eugene Ciccarelli for Steve Orszag)
• Instruction Set Architectures or extensions on which I’ve worked
  • S-2: a RISC-like successor to the LLNL S-1
    (circa 1984-1985)
  • MIPS III: the 64-bit extension of the MIPS II ISA
    (circa 1987-1991)
  • MIPS V: the SIMD media extension
    (circa 1996, primary work done by others)
  • MIPS MDMX: the SIMD DSP/media-processing extension
    (circa 1996, primary work done by others)
  • MIPS16: the LSI Logic compact code ISA
    (circa 1996, primary work done by LSI)
  • Tensilica Xtensa: compact embedded ISA designed for configurability and extensibility
    (circa 1998)
  • Tensilica Vectra I ISA and prototype (configurable SIMD, non-VLIW media/DSP extensions)
  • Tensilica Vectra II ISA (configurable SIMD, VLIW media/DSP extensions)
  • Tensilica Bitstream coprocessor ISA and implementation
  • Tensilica Galois Field coprocessor ISA and implementation
• Processor micro-architectures that I helped to design
  • LLNL S-2 (simple RISC-like pipelined ECL processor)
  • MIPS R3000 (cache improvements of the R2000)
  • MIPS R4000 (superscalar)
  • QED R4600/R4700 (low-cost, low-power)
  • Tensilica Xtensa (configurability, extensibility)
• My old email addresses
  • MIT
    • EAK@ML (also EAK@MIT-ML, EAK@MIT-ML.ARPA)
    • EAK@AI (also EAK@MIT-AI, EAK@MIT-AI.ARPA)
    • EAK@MC (also EAK@MIT-MC, EAK@MIT-MC.ARPA)
    • and probably EKillian@MIT-Multics
  • BBN: EKILLIAN@BBN-TENEXE (or EKILLIAN@BBNE)
  • LLNL: eak@mordor.s1.gov, eak@s1-c.arpa
  • MIPS: earl@mips.com
  • QED: earl@qedinc.com
  • SGI: earl@sgi.com
  • Tensilica: earl@tensilica.com
• NIC Handles (e.g. whois -h whois.networksolutions.com or www.networksolutions.com/en_US/whois/)
  • EAK
  • EK32
• ARIN Handles (e.g. whois -h whois.arin.net or ws.arin.net/cgi-bin/whois.pl)
  • EAK-ARIN
  • EARLKI
• My U.S. Patents
  1. 5,027,270 — Instruction streaming FPO
  2. 5,398,328 — Software endian switching FPO
  3. 5,420,992 — Address and word ISA extension FPO
  4. 5,479,630 — Hybrid virtual/physical cache FPO
  5. 5,568,630 — Extended word size and address space FPO
  6. 5,572,713 — Reverse Endian FPO
  7. 5,574,877 — TLB with two physical pages per virtual tag FPO
  8. 5,696,958 — Method and apparatus for reducing delays following the execution of a branch instruction in an instruction pipeline FPO
  9. 5,864,703 — Method for providing extended precision in SIMD vector arithmetic operations FPO
  10. 5,933,650 — Alignment and ordering of vector elements for single instruction multiple data processing FPO
  11. 6,092,187 — Instruction prediction based on filtering FPO
  12. 6,266,758 — Alignment and ordering of vector elements for single instruction multiple data processing FPO
  13. 6,282,633 — High data density RISC processor FPO
  14. 6,425,076 — Instruction prediction based on filtering FPO
  15. 6,477,683 — Automated processor generation system for designing a configurable processor and method for the same FPO
  16. 6,477,697 — Adding complex instructions extensions to a microprocessor FPO
  17. 6,760,888 — Automated processor generation system for designing a configurable processor and method for the same FPO
  18. 6,854,046 — Configurable memory management unit FPO
  19. 7,020,854 — Automated processor generation system for designing a configurable processor and method for the same FPO
  20. 7,036,106 — Automated processor generation system for designing a configurable processor and method for the same FPO
  21. 7,159,100 — Method for providing extended precision in SIMD vector arithmetic operations FPO
  22. 7,197,625 — Alignment and ordering of vector elements for single instruction multiple data processing FPO
  23. 7,219,212 — Load/store operation of memory misaligned vector data using alignment register storing realigned data portion for combining with remaining portion FPO
  24. 7,346,881 — Method and apparatus for adding advanced instructions in an extensible processor architecture FPO
  25. 7,376,812 — Full-Text Vector co-processor for configurable and extensible processor architecture FPO
  26. 7,437,700 — Automated Processor Generation System and Method for Designing a Configurable Processor Delphion
• Network protocols that I helped define long long ago
  • RFC742 — NAME/FINGER
    Updates
    • RFC1194 — The Finger User Information Protocol
    • RFC1196 — The Finger User Information Protocol
    • RFC1288 — The Finger User Information Protocol
  • RFC788 — Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
    Updates
    • RFC821 — Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
  • RFC733 — Standard for the Format of ARPA Network Text Messages(1)
    Updates
    • RFC822 — Standard for the format of ARPA Internet text messages
  • RFC779 — Telnet Send Location
  • RFC829 — PACKET SATELLITE TECHNOLOGY REFERENCE SOURCES

Good stuff found on the web

• Financial Crisis
  • Recipe for Disaster: The Formula That Killed Wall Street
• Commentary
  • Top Ten Reasons East Jerusalem does not belong to Jewish-Israelis
  • Plan for Social Security relies on an immediate, familiar Bush strategy by Peter S. Canellos
  • Regarding the Torture of Others, by Susan Sontag
• Music
  • Self Evident by Ani DiFranco, Lyrics
  • The Price of Oil by Billy Bragg, Lyrics
• Humor/Satire
  • All hail to the pods
  • Republicans in Hell
  • Mark Fiore
    • Digital Democracy
    • Coverage Interruptus
    • Congratulations!
    • The Make-It-Better Button!™
    • Where Is George Bush?
    • Why We Must Go To War
    • A Nation Remembers
    • Ashcroft On the Job
    • Bush Doctrine 2.0
    • Executive Branch Alerts
    • Oil Money
    • Alive & Well!
  • This Modern World
    • Money where your mouth is
    • Gasoline soaked rags
    • Language is a Virus
    • Zombie Menace
    • Dick Cheney, ventriloquist, and his little pal, Georgie.
• Economics
  • One man’s retirement math: Social Security wins by David R. Francis
  • The Tax-Cut Con by Paul Krugman
  • Who Really Cooks the Books? by Warren E. Buffett
• Hydrocarbons
  • Future world oil supplies: There is a finite limit
  • King Hubbert Updated
  • Colin Campbell
    • From The Wilderness Interview
    • Global Public Media recordings
• Media
  • Robert Fisk
    • How To Shut Up Your Critics With A Single Word
  • Spying in Iraq: From Fact to Allegation
  • Media in Cruise Control
  • CNN’s "Tailwind" and Selective Media Retractions
  • Reporters File Suit to Thwart FOX-TV Coverup
• Politics
  • If Kerry’s the Answer, What’s the Question? By William Blum
  • Selling The War Without Lying
  • Paul Krugman at the Commonwealth Club
  • Who Pays?
  • Silence and forgetting, by Jon Carroll
  • The New McCarthyism
  • Learning to Love Big Brother: George Bush Channels George Orwell
  • Noam Chomsky interview at Salon.COM

My heroes

There is no single reason I see some figures and not others as heroes, but one pattern does emerge. My heroes are individuals who I recognize for seeing truth that other their contemporaries could not, successfully communicating this truth, and often thereby changing the world in some way. Usually both their accomplishments and methods are worthy of praise. Some of these people profoundly changed the world. They were or are not perfect, and fault could be found, but I find their examples inspiring. Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein’s were not the only great scientists. Darwin’s work revolutionized the way we look ourselves and ushered in an era where science supplanted faith and superstition in much of the general population. Einstein’s genius was coupled with a social conscience (his pacifism in militant environments), and with free thinking and non-conformance that has been all too rare in scientists. I recognize George Orwell, Rachel Carson and Ralph Nader for their illustration of Margaret Mead’s observation that a committed citizen can change the world. Carson’s Silent Spring ignited the environmental movement, and Nader’s long career standing up against the powerful showed how to use the legal system to hold power accountable, even if just a little. George Orwell in his essays and fiction shows that penetrating observations beyond the conventional wisdom are not only possible but also that fiction can shape societies (Mark Twain and Noam Chomsky are two others with penetrating observations). Off with the blinders! George Soros, while he acquired wealth in less than exemplary ways, shows that wealth can be put to political use in enlightened ways. Mohandas Gandhi and Aung San Suu Kyi both demonstrate courage that I can only aspire to in working to effect change non-violently.

• Charles Darwin
  • Literature.org
    • On the Origin of Species
    • The Voyage of the Beagle
  • Infidels.org
    • On the Origin of Species (1859)
    • Descent of Man (1871)
    • The Voyage of the Beagle (1909)
• Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
  • An Autobiography, by Mohandas Gandhi.
• George Orwell
  • Shooting an Elephant (1936)
  • Politics and the English Language (1946)
• Aung San Suu Kyi
  • Free Burma Coalition
  • Free Burma
  • PeaceJam
• Rachel Carson
  • A Rachel Carson speech as heard on Democracy NOW! 12/29/1997
  • Rachel Carson Homestead
  • Al Gore’s introduction to Silent Spring
• Albert Einstein
  • Albert Einstein: A Biography, by Albrecht Folsing, Ewald Osers (Translator).
• George Soros
  • Soros Foundation Network
  • Soros on Soros: Staying ahead of the Curve
• Ralph Nader
  • Academy of Achievement
  • Selected writings
  • Interviews
  • Essential Information
  • Public Citizen
  • The Nader Page

Sub-content: 2013-12-11 16:38:25

PUBLIC NOTICE: Use of Killian.COM computer and network facilities for the purpose of transmitting unsolicited commercial advertising electronic mail to any user or account on or through Killian.COM machines is expressly PROHIBITED. Appearance of any e-mail addresses on these pages does *NOT* constitute solicitation of advertising e-mail.