According to Google, no one has ever published the word “snazzlefoop,” which I just manufactured to test Languid. (It correctly identified the language as gibberish, which appears to lack an ISO code.)
Category Archives: thoughts
I believe in mocking
April 23, 2006 – 12:50 pm
For the last two weeks, Scott Adams has been blogging about mysticism and predictably stirring up the crazies. The highlight is when he questions the need to respect beliefs, and asserts “Mockery is an important social tool for squelching stupidity.”
Dreyfus’s learning ladder
April 7, 2005 – 9:21 pm
The Dreyfus model of skill acquisition was popularized by Pat Benner in the nursing industry. The model aids understanding of learning and the development of intuition.
This is a much better approach to understanding the productivity gap among software engineers than the popular “packers vs. mappers” approach put forth in Chapter 1 of The Programmers’ […]
ranked voting
October 9, 2004 – 2:19 pm
Ranked voting systems permit the voter to select multiple candidates, indicating an order of preference.
Although instant runoff is more popular and Condorcet is the most “accurate”, I prefer approval voting as a pragmatic solution that is more supportive of third-party candidates. (I, personally, would love to vote Libertarian for representative legislators, without feeling I […]
2004 Presidential candidates
September 18, 2004 – 9:37 pm
This is a fun one.
My SelectSmart.com matches:
Candidate
Party
Match
Cobb, David
Green Party
60%
Nader, Ralph
Independent
60%
Badnarik, Michael
Libertarian
58%
Kerry, Senator John, MA
Democrat
57%
Brown, Walt
Socialist Party
51%)
Bush, President George W.
Republican
27%
Peroutka, Michael
Constitution Party
19%
But Kerry gets the vote I’m casting against Bush, since we don’t have ranked voting in Missouri.
Santa drives with the top down
December 22, 2003 – 12:00 am
Unseasonably warm weather today meant I got one last day of driving topless, while listening to my extensive playlist of nothing but Carol of the Bells.
Cursed
December 8, 2003 – 12:00 am
My Miata today subjected me to unscheduled maintenance for the first time (clutch hydraulic hose burst). Kristan was kind enough to follow me to the mechanic and let me borrow her car for the day, so I subsequently dropped her off at work.
I hadn’t even gotten off the side street for her office before […]
Puppetry
November 23, 2003 – 12:00 am
Forget LoJack, just let Big Brother install a remote control, in case your vehicle ever becomes a threat
to homeland security. [via Qaddisin]
Om Asatoma Sadgamaya
November 15, 2003 – 12:00 am
There has been a lot of whining about The Matrix
Revolutions. Even those that appreciate the action complain that this was a weak resolution for a philosophically compelling story. Of course, these whiners are missing the point.
In May, I speculated that “human choice empowers us” was looking to be the cheap resolution in store. […]
Smash
July 10, 2003 – 12:00 am
After more than a decade of driving, I’ve finally hit someone. A woman who started to accelerate into traffic then stopped, while I was re-checking for oncoming traffic and, finding none, accelerating and not stopping.
No one is hurt, the damage to my car is just under my $500 deductible, and hers is even more […]