Scree – Page 310 – Craig Constantine

The Fukushima disaster continues →

Published August 22, 2013 · All posts on Aug 22

…if you manage to bust a fuel element, the best outcome is that huge amounts of radioactivity escape into the air and blow over Japan, just like before. The worst outcome is when two of these things get too close, perhaps because in pulling one out it breaks and falls against another one in the tank. Because then you suddenly have lots of fission, a lot of heat, a meltdown, possibly a big blast like before, and the destruction of the entire cooling pond. Or else the water boils off and the whole thing catches fire.
~ From, «http://www.redflagnews.com/headlines/alert-fukushima-worse-than-chernobyl-now-in-crisis»

Wake up. It is 1984. →

Published August 21, 2013 · All posts on Aug 21

I tire of responding to those. Let me offer one response that applies to all of them: I don’t trust my government, I don’t trust the people who work for my government, and I believe that the evidence suggests that it’s irrational to offer such trust.
~ Ken White from, «http://www.popehat.com/2013/08/20/faced-with-the-security-state-groklaw-opts-out/»

Let go of your crutches →

Published August 20, 2013 · All posts on Aug 20

Many people are super busy, and distracted, because busy-ness and distraction feels productive, and isn’t boring.
Smokers don’t want to quit smoking, because it helps them deal with stress.
What do all these people have in common?
They rely on crutches.
~ Leo Babauta from, Simplify: Let Go of Your Crutches – Zen Habits Website

Elsewhere, this is 4uzecu1. — slipbox

Where did the term “Software Engineering” originate? →

Published August 19, 2013 · All posts on Aug 19

Just in case you thought it was fairly new, it’s probably(*) older than you. Here’s a deep link, to a down-the-rabbit-hole discussion. Seems most sources attribute a 1968 conference, while the author of this message from the Software Craftsmanship group has dug up an ACM article from 1966.

* …and probably significantly older than you since the average age of the entire world population is definitely less than Software Engineering’s 47 years (and counting.)

Why is estimating so hard? →

Published August 18, 2013 · All posts on Aug 18

It turns out that we don’t know the procedure. We haven’t got any clue to just how difficult the procedure is. We aren’t computers. We don’t follow procedures. And so comparing the complexity of the manual task, to the complexity of the procedure is invalid.
~ Uncle Bob Martin from, Clean Coder Blog

Elsewhere, this is 4utiue2. — slipbox

Easily retrievable asteroids? →

Published August 17, 2013 · All posts on Aug 17

For decades, science fiction writers and various space scientists have pointed out that asteroids offer a huge untapped source of valuable resources. Bringing just a small portion of this back to Earth could be a game changer for our planet.
~ from, «http://www.technologyreview.com/view/518046/new-class-of-easily-retrievable-asteroids-discovered/»

Manage your energy, not your time →

Published August 15, 2013 · All posts on Aug 15

“Manage your energy, not your time.” This is the quote that made Tony Schwartz famous. And it’s one that I believe best represents a truly efficient lifestyle in the 21st century. Yet, living “manage your energy, not your time” is incredibly hard, at least for me. It probably took me around a year to fully grasp its meaning. Since then, I’ve turned my life upside down and changed my routine dramatically.
~ Leo Widrich from, The Four Elements of Physical Energy and How To Master Them | Lifehacker

Elsewhere, this is 4ulite2. — slipbox

All your base are belong to us! →

Published August 14, 2013 · All posts on Aug 14

The rubbish and recycling bins, from the company Renew, were set up to identify and remember people’s smartphones, and thereby the movements and habits of their owners, as they walked by – kind of like how web pages monitor site traffic.
~ Lisa Vass

You are aware that you are all carrying personal, individually identifiable, tracking devices, right?

Inflation, deflation or discontinuity? →

Published August 13, 2013 · All posts on Aug 13

After a while, a period of stagflation is reached. Population catches up to the new resource, and job opportunities for young people become less plentiful. Wage disparity grows, with wages of the common worker lagging behind. The cost of government rises. Because of the low wages of workers, it becomes increasingly difficult to collect enough taxes from workers to pay for rising government costs. To work around these problems, use of debt grows. Needless to say, this scenario tends to end very badly.
~ Gail Tverberg from, Inflation, Deflation, or Discontinuity? | Our Finite World

Elsewhere, this is 4uouia1. — slipbox

Reality based martial arts? →

Published August 12, 2013 · All posts on Aug 12

Of course, we all think our OWN martial art system is the best, or we wouldn’t be doing it, right? That said, I always tell my own students to have a healthy respect for other martial arts for what they do, or attempt to do, if within their own context, they are doing it well. I often point out differences in how we execute a throw, for example, or a punch, comparing it to judo, aikido or karate techniques. Different, same or indifferent. Here’s why and how. I explain, discuss and then quantify and qualify. We do it this way because we are concerned with an armored or gear-protected assailant. The other guy may do it this way because it’s primarily a sport done in shorts. The roundness of an aikido throw really is good at teaching disbalancing and force redirection, more so than the shorter, simpler throw we do, which may seem more practical, but it’s basically the same. And so on.
~ Wayne Muromoto from, 70. “Reality-based” Martial Arts Not So Reality-based? – The Classic Budoka

Elsewhere, this is 4uwore1. — slipbox