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Theory and Practice

Sunday, July 08, 2012
In theory, practice follows theory. In pratice, it doesn't. -One of the extended Murphy's laws

Categories: Things to learn

Programming Today

Sunday, May 06, 2012

Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning.

-Rick Cook, The Wizardry Compiled

Categories: Things to learn

Russell's Rules of Teaching

Saturday, May 05, 2012

Do not feel absolutely certain of anything.

Do not think it worth while to proceed by concealing evidence, for the evidence is sure to come to light.

Never try to discourage thinking for you are sure to succeed.

When you meet with opposition, even if it should be from your husband or your children, endeavor to overcome it by argument and not by authority, for a victory dependent upon authority is unreal and illusory.

Have no respect for the authority of others, for there are always contrary authorities to be found.

Do not use power to suppress opinions you think pernicious, for if you do the opinions will suppress you.

Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.

Find more pleasure in intelligent dissent than in passive agreement, for, if you value intelligence as you should, the former implies a deeper agreement than the latter.

Be scrupulously truthful, even if the truth is inconvenient, for it is more inconvenient when you try to conceal it.

Do not feel envious of the happiness of those who live in a fool’s paradise, for only a fool will think that it is happiness.

From Brainpickings via This isn't Happiness 

Categories: Things to learn

Apt assesment from Alan Moore

Friday, February 10, 2012

Our present financial ethos no longer even resembles conventional capitalism, which at least implies a brutal Darwinian free-for-all, however one-sided and unfair. Instead, we have a situation where the banks seem to be an untouchable monarchy beyond the reach of governmental restraint, much like the profligate court of Charles I.

Then, a depraved neglect of the poor and the "squeezed middle" led inexorably to an unanticipated reaction in the horrific form of Oliver Cromwell and the English Civil War which, as it happens, was bloodily concluded in Northamptonshire.

Today's response to similar oppressions seems to be one that is intelligent, constantly evolving and considerably more humane, and yet our character's borrowed Catholic revolutionary visage and his incongruously Puritan apparel are perhaps a reminder that unjust institutions may always be haunted by volatile 17th century spectres, even if today's uprisings are fuelled more by social networks than by gunpowder.

--Alan Moore in BBC News via Boing Boing

Categories: Things to learn

Hybrid Malware

Monday, January 30, 2012

And so it begins:

http://www.net-security.org/malware_news.php?id=1972&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+HelpNetSecurity+%28Help+Net+Security%29 

Really, this make sense, but I wonder what it does to disrupt signatures in anti-malware.

Categories: Things to learn

One Percent of the One Percent

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

This kind of this is the best argument for how we've strayed from respresentation of the people into a policitical oligarcy:

http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2011/12/13/the-political-one-percent-of-the-one-percent/

Categories: Rants, Things to learn

ungrade

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Today I posted a note to a local list and misspelled "upgrade" as "ungrade". Todd Lewis, an excellent fellow all around whom I have known for too many years to think about, commented in a reply to my message:

Hey, Bil! I know it was a typo, but I really like the word: ungrade.
Because until a few days after it's done, you don't really know if it was an upgrade, downgrade, degrade, retrograde, or what. "Ungrade" sounds like you're stepping off into an unknown state, which is exactly what's happening.

He's exactly right, and I wish I had thought of it. For example, I recently thought I was upgrading my workstation from Snow Leopard to Lion, but I decided I couldn't stand Lion yet. As as aside, I have about decided that you should only do one major system upgrade on mac hardware, since I often have problem with the second major rev, but in fairness, I'm pretty hard on the software. But I digress. I lived with Lion for a week or so, decided to go back, and found it a difficult process involving blanking drives and mounting machines in target disk mode. So it wasn't an upgrade, clearly, nor a downgrade, since the downgrade was going back to Snow. Ungrade suits perfectly, and it will the next time I try Lion as I'll have a cold ball of concern in my soul as I start the installer.

Categories: Rants, Things to learn

Straight Furrows

Friday, July 22, 2011

In regard to an issue of basic competence:

A man ought to be able to plow a straight furrow -Fred Brooks 

Categories: Things to learn

Competition Boundries

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

A lot of people believe competition is like life. That’s not how I see it. I love to win, I love the competition, and I’ll try my best until the last moment. But what happens away from the court is not going to affect what happens on the court. We can try our best on the court and when we are off it we can be close friends, because we are talking 10 minutes before the match.

-Rafael Nadal, from Tennis.com 

Categories: Things to learn