noun : an accumulation of loose stones or rocky debris lying on a slope or at the base of a hill or cliff.
In computing, the so-called CAP theorem (1999-2002) has become both an icon and a bone of contention in the world of databases — a supposed truth about distributed systems. A lot has been written about it since it was formulated, especially around the recent debates on `SQL/noSQL’, but its many hearsay formulations are beset with a number of problems.
~ Mark Burgess from, Deconstructing the `CAP theorem’ for CM and DevOps
slip:4umabo3.
If you work with databases, reading this might be wise.
ɕ
It suggests that a person should aim to be strong, but not just in a physical sense. They should aim to be resilient, free thinking, confident and yet remain humble. They should learn to be self-sufficient and useful to their loved ones and they should be aiming to always progress in some way.
~ Chris Rowat, from «http://www.parkourgenerations.com/node/9399»
Written to have 5 parts, plus the introduction, he’s only completed two parts so far. But if parkour/art d’déplacement/free running you love, read this you must.
ɕ
Summing up: Liberals and conservatives agree that we have a long-term problem, but they argue about what kind of problem: a government spending problem or a healthcare cost problem.
Recently I ran into a potentially game-changing question: What if there is no problem? In other words, instead of being trapped in the dismal liberal/conservative argument about which apocalypse we’re headed towards, what if we’re actually not headed towards an apocalypse at all?
~ Doug Muder, from What if there’s no spending problem?
slip:4uwewa2.
ɕ
Less well known is Prometheus’ second gift. In Aeschylus’ “Prometheus Bound,” the chained Titan is pitilessly interrogated by the chorus. They ask him whether he gave human beings anything else. Yes, he says, “I stopped mortals from foreseeing doom.” How did you do that, they ask? His response is revealing: “I sowed in them blind hopes.”
~ Simon Critchley, from Abandon (Nearly) All Hope
slip:4unyaa1.
ɕ
If you are one of the newly-visible others, this all sounds whiny compared to the problems you face every day. It’s tempting to blast through such privileged resistance with anger and insult.
Tempting, but also, I think, a mistake. The privileged are still privileged enough to foment a counter-revolution, if their frustrated sense of entitlement hardens.
So I think it’s worthwhile to spend a minute or two looking at the world from George Parker’s point of view: He’s a good 1950s TV father. He never set out to be the bad guy. He never meant to stifle his wife’s humanity or enforce a dull conformity on his kids. Nobody ever asked him whether the world should be black-and-white; it just was.
~ Doug Muder, from The Distress of the Privileged
slip:4uwete2.
ɕ
Ever since I started running a website about health and fitness, I’ve noticed a key difference between people who find long-term success with getting healthy and those who don’t. When dealing with people who will NOT find success, I feel like a parent on a road trip.
~ Steve Kamb, from «http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2014/02/20/are-we-there-yet/»
slip:4unebo14.
ɕ
Cursive or not, the benefits of writing by hand extend beyond childhood. For adults, typing may be a fast and efficient alternative to longhand, but that very efficiency may diminish our ability to process new information. Not only do we learn letters better when we commit them to memory through writing, memory and learning ability in general may benefit.
~ Maria Konnikova from, What’s Lost as Handwriting Fades
ɕ
I agree that America faces a major discipline problem, but I see the lack of discipline at the top: the bankers, the billionaires, the CEOs. Like Mike Rice, they’re out of control and need to face the consequences of their actions.
The Rice video was seen by Rutgers officials months ago, and their response was a wrist-slap: Rice was suspended for three games and told not to do it again. Isn’t that typical of how things go in America?
~ Doug Muder, from Mike Rice, Sean Hannity, and the Real American Discipline Problem
slip:4uwemi1.
ɕ
The practice of politeness is a collection of habits of mind and expression you do on a daily basis. You learn to say “thank you” because you are honestly grateful and “I’m sorry” because you honestly don’t want to contribute to the pain of the world. You learn to say “it’s ok” because you’re honestly forgiving and letting go of small things other people do wrong. This practice makes the rate of unproductive and acrimonious conversations go down, and the enemies you make are usually only the unavoidably unpleasant.
~ Quinn Norton, from How to be Polite… for Geeks
slip:4umeme1.
ɕ
But why do women make less? Is it for reasons we can all live with, or is the pay gap an injustice that needs fixing? Several reasons are frequently offered, together with explanations why we can live with those reasons. (Never forget that those are two separate conversations. Even if the whole pay gap could be boiled down to something as simple as “Girls don’t like math”, we’d still need to discuss whether that’s a problem we can or should fix.)
~ Doug Muder, from 77 cents, part II
slip:4uwece1.
VERY interesting gender/salary math.
ɕ
Many seem to believe that if we worked our way out of debt problems in the past, we can do the same thing again. The same assets may have new owners, but everything will work together in the long run. Businesses will continue operating, and people will continue to have jobs. We may have to adjust monetary policy, or perhaps regulation of financial institutions, but that is about all.
I think this is where the story goes wrong. The situation we have now is very different, and far worse, than what happened in the past.
~ Gail Tverberg, from Debt
slip:4uoude1.
ɕ
Anyone who works with computers learns to fear their capacity to forget. Like so many things with computers, memory is strictly binary. There is either perfect recall or total oblivion, with nothing in between. It doesn’t matter how important or trivial the information is. The computer can forget anything in an instant. If it remembers, it remembers for keeps.
~ Maciej Cegłowski, from The Internet With A Human Face
slip:4uieaa1.
…from his talk at Beyond Tellerrand
ɕ
True friendship develops not as a result of money or power, but on the basis of genuine human affection.
~ Dalai Lama
slip:4a279.
This tweet appeared the day I returned from training at the Académie Québécoise d’Art du Déplacement. Clearly I’m becoming a softie in my middling years, but I felt a real connection to the many people I had the privilege of training with. They were strong, humble, joyful, welcoming, and so much more.
On commence ensemble; On finit ensemble.
Art du Deplacement – Force, Dignite, Partage
ɕ
Put it all together, and even a student who works part-time and attends a second-rate state university can easily graduate owing over $100,000.
Welcome to the professional class, kid. Just don’t expect to keep any of the money you make. And I almost forgot to mention: We’ve let public transportation go to hell, so you’ll need to buy a car. (Here’s another loan.) We’re letting public schools fail, so if you have kids and want them to stay in the professional class, you’ll need to send them to private schools (Here’s another loan.) And we’re going to toss that national-health-care idea out on its ear, but don’t worry, if you get sick you can put it on your Visa.
~ Doug Muder, from Student Debt
slip:4uwesu1.
ɕ
This change really seperates people. It’s not going to be like it used to be. You can’t ‘go back to training’ as you once did. That one Jam that you remember is a small part of your whole experience that you remember fondly. It’s one highlight in a long journey, which isn’t just highlights. What’s the constant in these memories?
It’s Parkour.
~ Chris Grant, from Change
slip:4uwoca1.
ɕ
That’s the only test that counts. It’s not how hard you work, it’s what happens if you stop. If quitting means real hardship for you or your family, you have a job. If you keep at it even though you could spend the rest of your life skipping rocks at your house by the lake, you have a hobby.
I’ve got nothing against hobbies. The Weekly Sift is a hobby. One way to describe the Marxist vision of Utopia is that we’d all be hobbyists, and the world’s work would get done by people who just wanted the satisfaction of doing it. (That vision even works sometimes: Wikipedia, open source software, and so on.)
~ Doug Muder from, Rich People Don’t Have Jobs
slip:4uweri1.
ɕ
The second way of living is the opposite: eat simple food in moderation, enjoy the Internet but with limits so that we can focus on important work, get away from TV and computers once in awhile to enjoy nature and being active and exercising, shopping less and having less possessions, finding focus and being mindful. It’s not that we don’t indulge in the treats of the first way, but we do it with a little restraint, and consciousness.
~ Leo Babauta from, A Brief Guide to Overcoming Instant Gratification
slip:4uzega1.
ɕ
You ever have that funny friend, the class-clown type, who one day just stopped being funny around you? Did it make you think they were depressed? Because it’s far more likely that, in reality, that was the first time they were comfortable enough around you to drop the act.
~ David Wong from, Robin Williams and Why Funny People Kill Themselves
slip:4ucaqu1.
ɕ
But democracies need to be able to talk. I have to know more than just what you want to do or want me to do. I need to understand why you want what you want, and I need to be able to explain why I want something different. We have to be able to discuss the nuances of our hopes and fears and plans — what’s absolutely essential and what isn’t — so that we can cobble together a solution that we can all live with.
~ Doug Muder, from The Republic of Babel
slip:4uwete3.
ɕ
This is not your grandma’s “functional programming will change the world!” blog post: this list is much more esoteric. I’d wager most readers haven’t heard of the majority of the languages and paradigms below, so I hope you have as much fun learning about these new concepts as I did.
~ Yevgeniy Brikman, from Six programming paradigms that will change how you think about coding
slip:4ubosi2.
ɕ