Law 8 When you force the other person to act, you are the one in control. It is always better to make your opponent come to you, abandoning his own plans in the process. Lure him with fabulous gains – then attack. You hold the cards. –{{Robert Greene}}, {{The 48 Laws of Power}} (review)
what to offer to be the best possible employer ever
This will likely be an ongoing series as time progresses, but here are a handful of thoughts on how to really WOW your employees (or potential employees). Some of these ideas were garnered from my personal thought and observations, some from former employers, and some from other sources including “A Field Guide to Developers“, Fog …
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the traveler by john twelve hawks
I first heard about {{The Traveler}} in {{Albert-László Barabási}}’s book {{Bursts}} (review). Now that I’ve had a chance to read {{John Twelve Hawks}}’ novel, I can say I can’t recommend it. Not because it’s a bad story – but because I couldn’t get into it. I think it has the potential to be a good …
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the art of the essay
Paul Graham is one of my favorite essayists. The following are some excerpts from his excellent 2004 essay, “The Age of the Essay“. The most obvious difference between real essays and the things one has to write in school is that real essays are not exclusively about English literature. Certainly schools should teach students how …
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delivering solutions – “shipping is a feature!”
Back in 2009, {{Joel Spolsky}} wrote an article called The Duct Tape Programmer. Of everything he has written, I think this is the very pinnacle, and it is summed in one simple sentence in the middle: “Shipping is a feature.” I’ve referenced this article twice before (in Feb and Sep of ’11). Why is this …
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atlas of the year 1000 by john man
It was with great excitement I reserved {{Atlas of the Year 1000}} from my local library. {{John Man}}’s work did not disappoint (excluding the humorous typo of “a a” when only the single article use was intended). Starting with the Americas, then working Eastward to Europe, the Islamic region, and Asia before moving back west …
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lots of changes
This will likely be the last term I teach a Sunday afternoon discipleship class at Porter. But this is a Good Thing™. Beginning the first Sunday in April, I will be trialing as the new primary leader of a SS class Life Group. If all goes well, after the first month, I’ll be in there …
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geeks night out
Last week I went to the Geeks’ Night Out at Beerworks in Lexington. One of the people I met was a junior EE major at UK named Robyn who, along with two of her friends, is looking to start a home automation company (The Unity Box) – but not in the realm of a company …
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farming whales
We farm tilapia. We farm chickens. We farm oysters. We farm deer. We farm shrimp. We farm bison. We farm ostriches. We farm kangaroos. We farm all kinds of stuff. Why don’t we farm whales?
get others to do the work for you, but always take the credit – law 7 – #48laws by robert greene
Law 7 Use the wisdom, knowledge, and legwork of other people to further your own cause. Not only wil such assitance save you valuable time and energy, it will give you a godlike aura of efficiency and speed. In the end your helpers will be forgotten and you will be remembered. Never do yourself what …
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gardening efficiently – for fun and profit
I have gardened off and on for most of my life. Back in the 1980s, there was a show called “Square Foot Gardening” on PBS hosted by Mel Bartholomew. Now there is a website. When we lived in Albany, we purchased the book {{Square Foot Gardening}} (which has been updated and simplified even further by …
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thanks, {redacted}
A friend and coworker owns a cabin in the Smoky Mountains, and invited my wife and I to spend part-to-all of a week with him and his wife there at the beginning of March – doing a “WFC1” week instead of being ‘merely’ WFH2 (like we normally are).. He arrived Saturday morning with his wife, …
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don’t implement your scheduler in a pure queue design
Recently came across a seriously funky issue with one of HP’s products (don’t laugh – I know there’s loads of funkiness in HP tools). HP Cloud Service Automation (3.1) allows you to schedule requests in the future. It also allows you schedule end dates for subscriptions. That’s neat. Here’s the problem: if you delete a …
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vet visit
This morning was our dog’s annual vet visit. Though we have not lived in Corbin in a few years, we still take our dog to the vet my inlaws use in Williamsburg. Why, you may ask? Because the whole visit is less than half the cost of going to one in Lexington. That’s crazy. I …
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reference materials
I learned recently that my wonderful wife was never taught how to use a dictionary, thesaurus, almanac, or encyclopedia as a child in school. Not all of that can be because she went to public school whereas I was homeschooled. Nor can it merely be that she grew up in KY and I in NY. …
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court attention at all costs – law 6 – #48laws by robert greene
Law 6 Everything is judged by its appearance; what is unseen counts for nothing. Never let yourself get lost in the crowd, then, or buried in oblivion. Stand out. Be conspicuous, at all costs. Make yourself a magnet of attention by appearing larger, more colorful, more mysterious than the bland and timid masses. –{{Robert Greene}}, …
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bursts by albert-lászló barabási
{{Albert-László Barabási}}’s book “{{Bursts}}: The Hidden Patterns Behind Everything We Do, from Your E-mail to Bloody Crusades” is fascinating. In the same overall genre as {{Malcolm Gladwell}}’s {{Outliers}} (review) – pop psychology and pop science – {{Bursts}} is a great read: bringing highly technical and dense topics to the masses in a manner that [apparently] …
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quotes to prepare for session 3
Trials hurt. They stretch us, bend us, twist us, and pressure us as they develop us into the people God would have us to be. A chef in an authentic pizzeria stretches the dough, pounds it, flattens it, rolls it, twirls it, and then cooks it. A pizza can’t become all that a pizza was …
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creating vs consuming
One of the biggest issues facing Western societies is that they are all consumption-oriented. Not enough time is spent creating – all [most] people want to do is consume: entertainment, food, money, fun… We all want shortcuts. We all want to be at the level where we don’t have to think to accomplish work. We …
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abstracts from ‘the art of seduction’
Yesterday I promised you can read the abstracts from {{Robert Greene}}’s {{The Art of Seduction}} today. Part One – The Seductive Character The Siren A man is often secretly oppressed by the role he has to play – by always having to be responsible, in control, and rational. The Siren is the ultimate male fantasy …
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the art of seduction by robert greene
Warning: This book contains, in places, intense terminology, and is directed at mentally-mature audiences Now back to our regularly-scheduled bog post After having read {{The 48 Laws of Power}} (and enjoying it), I decided to read some of {{Robert Greene}}’s other popular works. So, I read {{Mastery}}. And then I read {{The Art of Seduction}}. …
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replace the restaturant buzzer
Somebody needs to replace the ubiquitous restaurant buzzer with either an SMS- or smartphone-based tool: when you put your name on the waiting list, you give them your phone number. When your table is ready, they can buzz your phone. Fewer moving parts for the restaurant. Fewer chances to lose stuff. Less crap to carry …
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annapolis
At the beginning of 2008 I interviewed with a little outfit* in Annapolis to become their head of support. (This was just a month after interviewing with FogCreek.) Oddly enough that day, one of my former colleagues at Opsware who had moved-on was my tech screener. Needless to say, that aspect of the interview I …
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quote to prepare for session 2
It’s important to realize faith is more than a feeling. Faith is a function. ({{God’s Unlikely Path to Success}} by {{Tony Evans}} p38 (ref)) {session 1 thoughts}
cloud computing in easy steps by david crookes
In my ongoing hunt to find worth-while tech books (most recently in the field of cloud computing), I’m here today to write about {{Cloud Computing in Easy Steps}} by {{David Crookes}}. First to note – this book is NOT about how to deploy cloud computing. It is about how to use lots of free and inexpensive options if you …
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