Archive for April 2011
In which interesting trivia is uncovered
I don’t know if it’s true, but it’s a nice story.
A table or a chair with only one leg can not remain stable. It was used once at the dangerous production of nitroglycerine. Process vessel was monitored by a worker on a one-legged chair, to prevent that he had been sleeping.
In which the hazy past is recounted, part one
My grandmother Jones took me to see a movie at HQS in, wikipedia tells me, 1981. I went with her and a friend of hers; they enjoyed the movie, and I thought it was cool to watch a boat sink (still think it should have caught fire). The loons! The loons!
Perhaps as penance for subjecting me to this crude torture, she took me to a record store and changed my life. I really didn’t know what kind of music I wanted or liked; I asked mom for KISS, I got Yellow Submarine (looking back, I’d say she made a wise choice; second grade was no time for KISS). Somehow, my grandmother bought a tape of a certain classic album. I knew nothing of Rush, what the lyrics were about, but my ten-year-old self played the ever-living shit out of that tape; In particular, Tom Sawyer, Red Barchetta, and YYZ.
Before ESL, everything was either what my parents listened to or what was on the radio. After ESL, I could leave planet Earth at will (as long as the batteries lasted).
Thanks for that!
In which nothing of value was lost
It appears CheyTac has, or is, going under. This guy’s restraint is amazing; if I spent $22000+ on a rifle system that wouldn’t feed, wouldn’t shoot, and couldn’t keep the magazine in place, I’d be livid.
CheyTac, if you recall, was the wonder-rifle maker that only sold de-tuned rifles to civilians. Fuck ‘em.
In which the obvious is stated in tshirt-worthy form
Sure! Let’s have a meeting about this fucking email! I’ve got nothing but time! No deadlines ahead, no cocksucking PMs waiting in the wings!
In which everything old is new again
A long time ago, in the dark ages, I worked somewhere where we practiced what would best be called “scrumfall“. In re-reading the Scrum Bible, I’m struck by how far we were from the theoretical roots of scrum; even now, in a small development setting, there is much daylight between scrum as written and as we practice. It’s interesting how many small details are glossed over in rough implementations of scrum: thirty day sprints, no more than seven people on a team, the backlog is controlled by one person; all of these rules have attractive reasons to be set aside, but also have sound theoretical basis.
My hope is that by everyone at work re-reading the scrum bible, we’ll reach a higher fidelity implementation of scrum and let a lot of stress go.
What I really wanted to do with this post, though, was to direct you to two web pages: the Waterfall Manifesto and Asshole Driven Development. There’s enough painfully true stuff there to, well, be painful.
In which the obvious is stated
“that was a very, very bad idea“. He’s about as Russian as my socks, but hey, his videos are funny. Good to see an SOT having fun.
In which the power of everything is increased exponentially
These clever folks are selling a bit of glue that, applied properly, means you can interact with anything, anywhere, from anywhere, without much work. Android devices are cheap as chips; with a little Java, you could now put a powerful, modern microcomputer on the side of any damn thing you want.
There’s so much win here my nipples are exploding with delight.
