My grandfather, James P. Berry, bought the first Chevy Volt sold in Rock Hill. Unveiled in 2007 (the same year as the iPhone) and taking 3 more years to come to market, the Volt was an odd car. An entirely electric drivetrain that had a 40 mile battery but could burn gas to power a generator to run the motors for unlimited maximum range. Commute on electricity, road trip on gas. The best of both
Craft vs Trade - Programming
I was having a conversation with a friend just starting out, later in life, on his journey as a software developer, and we were talking about code schools and college degrees.
There seems to be a paradox, that some companies hire code school graduates and have success when others don't, while at the same time not all companies have success hiring junior developers straight out of college. So what determines success?
One model that might
Grant Imahara, 1970-2020
Yesterday's post was not intended to be the first in the series, but here we are. The obstacle has become the way.
MythBusters premiered during my freshman year of high school, and slotted into the subscription list on our first-gen TiVo alongside Junkyard Wars, so in a way this hits me more like finding out about the death of a friend I lost contact with when I went off to college (not having a TV
K. Anders Ericsson, 1947-2020
I was saddened to hear that Anders Ericsson passed away recently, because his research and writings, primarily his book Peak has had a significant positive impact on my life.
His research into what distinguished effective versus ineffective practice was sadly taken out of context to become the cultural meme of the "10,000 hour rule," which I might consider a miscarriage if he hadn't had a chance to set the record straight in Peak, for
Loss Due To Measurement
Every time you put something into a measurement container, some small amount of the stuff stays in the container after you empty it out. The measuring scoop you use for flour, the measuring cup for cream, the mixing bowl to combine it.
We like to think that we can measure things for free, but it's just not true. Cooking a roast with a temperature probe in it makes it easy to hit exactly the right temperature, but the meat around the probe always cooks a little differently.
How big is the effect? A few percent, maybe. But it's not zero.
And almost always, the net outcome of the product is higher quality even if slightly lower quantity.
But it's worth remembering that every time you measure, it costs you a small amount of lost product. So measure wisely.
Palantiri and Social Media
Journal, 13 March 2020
So much of social media reminds me of Tolkien's palantirs. Dangerous and corrupting for mortals. Manipulated to show you what will redirect your will to someone else's aims. Seemingly a gift but more a temptation. Can lead even mighty kings to crazed suicide.
Is long-distance, many-to-many communication beyond a small forum always doomed to do this? It seems harmful every time it's been tried.
Incentives Matter - Google and Dark Mode
In conversation with a friend today, he made a passing remark:
How can Google's own emails look like crap when viewed in Gmail, on a Google phone, using Google's dark mode?
I think there are three things at play here.
The first is that Google isn't just one thing. It's thousands of groups, mostly working independently. Of course we know this, but it's easy to forget when we use the shorthand of talking about a
Voluntary Hardship
You must choose your own forms of hardship, or they will be chosen for you by fortune.
Suffering through workouts or being surprised by injury and frailty.
Budgeting your money or being blindsided by unexpected events.
Controlling the food you eat or being weakened and sickened by the lack of discipline.
You get to choose all of these. You get to choose what form of exercise to do, or what to spend your budgeted money on.
The only choice you do not have is "No Hardship."
Winning is a Mirage
So, if most people who show up for an individual competition are losers and show up anyway, what's the point?
At least the guys who win are satisfied, right?
In my experience?
No.
For the people who are interested in growing and developing their skills, winning at a certain level just means one thing: it's time to go to the next level.
Everyone climbing the mountain is looking up at the guy at the top
Staying Busy
Tonight was the toughest I've had this week.
I finished work, feeling drained. Steph and I walked around the neighborhood with the dog, I made dinner, we ate dinner. I had the whole evening.
I sat down to write another blog post like yesterday's, since it seemed to resonate and was really thrilling to write. It didn't work. I can't summon that on demand. I had good raw materials yesterday and bupkis today.
I puttered