Kitchen is finished.
…that only took 18 months. :*)
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That was quick →
5 million tons of rubbish →
Five millions tons of rubbish made up of devastated homes, boats, cars and businesses is making its way across the Pacific Ocean following the 2011 tsunami in Japan.
~ Christopher Bucktin from, Floating island of rubbish three times size of BRITAIN floating towards California
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The article’s characterization of the debris as a “floating island” is certainly hyperbole. But still, this is a HUGE amount of floating debris.
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Simplicity →
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.
~ Leonardo da Vinci
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What wizardry is this →
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You might try mowing the lawn →
Researchers in Sweden measured the health of almost 4,000 60-year-olds in the late 1990s. A dozen years later, they checked back in. The people who had been active but not “exercising” at age 60 had a 27 percent lower risk of heart attack and stroke over that time, and a 30 percent lower risk of death.
…
What kind of activity does it take to get those kind of numbers? Things like mowing the lawn, housework, fix-it projects, gardening, bicycling, and, for a nice Scandinavian touch, “gathering mushrooms or berries.”
~ Nancy Shute from, For A Longer Life, You Might Try Mowing The Lawn
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Lowell Observatory →
Entrance to the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff Arizona.
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Repercussions →
If I were in government right now, I would be leery of starting another big software project. I’d also know that big software projects are going to be necessary as our civilization gets more and more complex. So, if I were in government right now, I’d be thinking about laws to regulate the Software Industry. I’d be thinking about what languages and processes we should force them to use, what auditing should be done, what schooling is necessary, etc. etc. I’d be thinking about passing laws to get this unruly and chaotic industry under some kind of control.
If I were the President right now, I might even be thinking about creating a new Czar or Cabinet position: The Secretary of Software Quality. Someone who could regulate this misbehaving industry upon which so much of our future depends.
Maybe that thought hasn’t occurred to them yet. Maybe. But how many more healthcare.gov debacles will it take before it does?
~ Bob Martin from, «http://blog.8thlight.com/uncle-bob/2013/11/12/Healthcare-gov.html»
Most people I’ve talked to, (who write software or do systems and network administration,) are in the “I have work to do” camp. They’ve no time to think about professionalization, or standardization, of their field. To which I say:
That’s cool; I understand. No worries! The government will eventually get around to ramming standardization and licensing down your throat. I’m sure that will work out well for us.
If you work in these fields, you should be paying attention. If you wok in network and systems administration, you should be paying attention to LOPSA and Usenix/LISA.
Update:
Feb 2014: Senate Steps Into the Data Breach Controversy
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A man must know his destiny →
A man must know his destiny… if he does not recognize it, then he is lost. By this I mean, once, twice, or at the very most, three times, fate will reach out and tap a man on the shoulder… if he has the imagination, he will turn around and fate will point out to him what fork in the road he should take, if he has the guts, he will take it.
~ George S. Patton
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Pool table pocket drops →
Ever wonder how they shaped the bed of the pool table where the balls fall into the pockets? Neither did I.
…until I restored a pool table from 1938-or-so. The slate playing surface has very basic geometric cuts. The four corner pockets have a very wide, two-sided notch, and the side pockets have a more narrow notch. Wooden inserts are shaped to fit into the notch, and when you cover the bed in felt, the balls roll from the slate, onto these wooden “pocket drop” shapes and fall into the pockets.
It turns out there’s a lot of discussion involved in how large are the radius of the hole — the big round part cut out of the wood that the ball falls into, as well as what the radius the balls rolls over as it falls off the cliff.
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You are probably wrong most of the time →
Q. Can you prove that I’m wrong?
Yes, but, you’ll have to agree in advance what proof looks like, otherwise you could just move the goalposts after the game.
Q. How come I have so much evidence that I’m right?
That’s confirmation bias. Your brain carefully files away all the reasons you might be right, and disregards all the reasons you might be wrong.
~ “Proper discord” from, You’re Wrong: an F.A.Q. | Proper Discord
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