Archive

Way back in the day - circa 2007 or 2008 I had a website that included some sample code and snippets that demonstrated things I’d learned at the time.

The content isn’t really that valuable any longer, but there are some nifty things.

Pay attention to time as much as money.

It’s hard to spend a fortune without noticing. Someone with ordinary tastes would find it hard to blow through more than a few tens of thousands of dollars without thinking “wow, I’m spending a lot of money.”

What if cleaning up the Gulf of Mexico wasn’t a matter of choosing between harsh chemical dispersants, labor-intensive skimming and potentially dangerous burns?

People who sleep after processing and storing a memory carry out their intentions much better than people who try to execute their plan before getting to sleep, say psychologists at Washington University in St. Louis.

The researchers found that how addicts cope with stress—either by working through a problem or avoiding it—is a strong predictor of whether they will experience cravings when faced with stress and negative mood.

Athletes have long used mental imagery to complement physical practice, and research indicates that going through the motions only in your head can enhance performance just as well as—and sometimes better than—actually working up a sweat.

Interesting argument; counter-arguments after the link…

Indifference, feigned or real, is such a pervasive part of North American culture (maybe just here in the Pacific Northwest, I don’t know).

Mr. Lahey’s method is striking on several levels. It requires no kneading. (Repeat: none.) It uses no special ingredients, equipment or techniques. It takes very little effort.

Ah… there goes that theory.

Insightful perspective on governance, and the difficulty of concerted effort to achieve anything.

It seems obvious that centralized, autocratic management hierarchies are brittle and that decentralized, democratic management hierarchies are more resilient to change.

Fascinating look at the brains of psychopaths. I know that in addictions the consequences are often completely ignored by the addict while in the acting out phase of the addiction cycle. I would strongly expect that this hyper-reactive dopamine reward system is in effect at some level with addicts too.

Recent research suggesting that intestinal bacteria may actually change the host person’s appetite and insulin resistance.

Great article by Bob Sutton on hiring.

Most remarkable to me is how unpredictable on-the-job performance can be, using:

• unstructured interviews (most common in my experience),
• reference checks (!), and
• job experience (!!)

Hg Init: a Mercurial tutorial

Are Libertarians simply Liberals who like markets?

I’ve considered myself a Libertarian in many political views for a long time, and have been noticing an increasing ’leftward’ slide in my general political views, except for a couple hot-button areas.

It’s a representation of value.

Interesting summary of feedback by Eric Lippert, who was asking about factors that make a job description attractive (or not) to potential employees.

This is an engaging post about the use (and abuse) of a rhetorical phrase that gives the user immense influence, without actually needing the weight of facts to substantiate it.

In addition to the 20 questions Dan Isenberg asks, ask yourself if you can answer “yes” to this list of statements before deciding whether or not to become an entrepreneur:

Say You’re One of Them is an awe-inspiring collection of stories that challenges you to look beyond the headlines and see an Africa full of both joy and despair.

“Technology has practically abolished time and space, so we should know what goes on around the planet at any moment. We don’t,” Costa said. “There are so many forgotten places, out of government control, too scary for investors and tourists.”

Fun article about game theory, incentives, and prediction.

Ask a second question.