thoughthaus

I’d rather eat wild cod once a month and sardines once a week than farm-raised salmon, ever
Mark Bittman, A Seafood Snob Ponders the Future of Fish

I like to ask developers who do not do TDD whether or not they ever write programs to test their software at all. They always say: well. yes. a little. Then I’d argue that they should start to invest just enough effort to make those one-off transient tests something that they could […]

I was at a party tonight and looked at the hosts’ book shelf. Not sure if that’s courteous or not. Anyway the guy had a bunch of these
Very Short Introductions. Each book is a brief overview on an interesting topic. Topics are mainly philosophical or history or art. Good […]

Committee on Certifiably Dependable Software Systems of the National Research Council published a book last year called “Software for Dependable Systems: Sufficient Evidence?“. A free pdf download is available.

Software for Dependable Systems: Sufficient Evidence?

Read this FREE online!PDF Summary

I rode my bike to work on heavily salted, ice-free roads this morning. It was perfectly clear at 15 degrees Fahrenheit. I wore my new goggles. It was exhilarating.

I got a MacBook a while ago. Ironic but the most fun thing I’ve done with it is setup Windows XP with Parallels. It went pretty slick after I polished up my scrated windows XP home upgrade cd with some toothpaste.
steps:
1. install demo version of parallels (downloaded from their website). I’ll have to […]

My wife got me this great board game, Ticket to Ride, from this cool site that specializes in “gateway” games. These are proven games that get people hooked on designer board games.

Need to get some stuff for the bike.
here is a site: http://www.nashbar.com
Ice biking: http://www.icebike.org

The Checklist, another one to read. This one is about how stupid little checklists are saving lives in ICUs across MI.

Need to read this: “Business Rules Process Management”

I’m enjoying entry The Nerd Handbook entry from the rands in repose blog.
… everyone else is traipsing around picking dazzling fonts to describe their world, your nerd has carefully selected a monospace typeface, which he avidly uses to manipulate the world deftly via a command line interface …

Joel,
Isn’t the GWT what you’re referring to as the NewSDK for web apps?

This makes me smile. I love watching the Sheilds and Brooks weekly political wrap on the news hour. I’m very excited to start reading Brooks on nytimes.com now that the times is ending TimesSelect.

I got a new bicyle. My last one was stolen from my driveway. I’ve got to learn to lock things up. The new bike is a Jamis Coda. I’d never heard of it before. I like riding it. It’s a lot of fun and a major improvement over my […]

Update: I forgot about going to this. I’m bummed.
I heard “Lost and Found” years ago at an outdoor Christian music festival. They are so fun. I’m taking the family to see them in a couple weeks.
They have a great time with their audiences. And the music is pretty […]

This last July the philosophy of physics department at Oxford put together the “Everett@50” conference. They discussed the question of whether we ought to interpret quantum mechanics to imply that there are many parallel worlds.
Their papers are availible to read. They are heavy. But I’m working to understand as much as […]

“rational emotive behavioral therapy … would focus not on excavating childhood but on confronting the irrational thoughts that lead to self-destructive feelings and behavior.”
Albert Ellis, Who Streamlined Freud, Dies at 93

My last meeting today was just canceled. Bliss

Notice that I’m using lotus notes. It is the most unbelievable software I’ve ever used.
I guess I’m not alone. Google “lotus notes” and Interface Hall of Shame is on the first page of results.

I like to take “walks” though wikipedia. This where I stopped today:
“… all good theoretical physicists put this number up on their wall and worry about it.”
- Richard P. Feynman

Interesting article on forecasting the lifespan of the human race and the need to diversify our “franchise” to other planets.