Low IQ connection

I found this post interesting, although the lack of citation means that it’s potentially meaningless. But the graphic somehow explains a lot:

What I really identified with, though, is not the fancy chart that shows how red states tend to have lower IQs, but some of the comments posted by other readers. The fact that the majority [...]

Continue Reading...

The agile disease

Luke Halliwell recently wrote an exceptional piece titled The Agile Disease. And, as someone that pushes this disease in various forms, you might be surprised to hear that I agree with just about everything he’s written on the topic, save a few points. For example, the commercial trendiness of Agile and its “manifesto” is just [...]

Continue Reading...

Hear hear

“This isn’t about yelling, this isn’t about politics, this isn’t really just about proposition 8.” This is about humanity, and those of us who don’t have enough of it.

Hear hear, Mr. Olbermann.

Continue Reading...

Tell me thrice

In certain military contexts there’s the concept of “tell me three times,” a form of checksum that eliminates error by introducing redundancy. This is something I’ve been meaning to write a meaningful piece on for a while — and this diagram is at the root of it. It’s an integral part to any complete process… [...]

Continue Reading...

Defending elitism

Oh my god, I haven’t been writing much lately. My apologies. I promise to amend the situation in the near future, but in the meantime here’s some excellent writing from Sam Harris published in Newseek:

…You can learn something about a person by the company [Palin] keeps. In the churches where Palin has worshiped for decades, [...]

Continue Reading...

Save the Constitution

I wish there was more I could do to support Rep. Dennis Kucinich’s recent motion to impeach our so-called President. I understand why Speaker Nancy Pelosi would rather not support any action to impeach. She’s dead wrong. Mr. Bush has violated so many laws (35 by Kucinich’s account) and broken our Constitution. Do we really [...]

Continue Reading...

Modern data visualization

Smashing Magazine has catalogued some of the most amazing visualization technique available today. I’m particularly fascinated by the spacial navigation and visualization models. As technology catches up with the processing capabilities of humans, we’ll be seeing more and more technology like this. We don’t think in folders and files–we think in relationships, proximity and “likeness.” [...]

Continue Reading...

Omnifocus inbox aka getting things done

After reading Charles’ inbox hero post, I thought I’d take a whack at describing my own process. Charles’ technique works; I can attest to it, because it’s essentially how I managed to stay on top of my own email (which, at times, pours in at the rate of a few hundred messages a day). [...]

Continue Reading...

Cell phones are bad

From 1983 to 1989, Dr. George Carlo, PhD, headed the telecommunication industry’s research into cell phone safety, with the ultimate goal of proving cell devices safe. The industry funded his project to the tune of $28 million dollars (U.S.) but his findings were so startling that he turned on his employers. Now involved with the non-profit Safe Wireless Dr. Carlo is telling the truth: Information-carrying microwave radiation, such as that used by cell phones, is harmful.

Continue Reading...

Contextual interfaces

The debate regarding the effectiveness and wisdom of contextual user interface design has been getting more heated over the past decade. As program complexity expands and users developer greater technical savvy, contextual interfaces seem inevitable. But are they a good thing, or just a way to obfuscate already complicated systems?
Contextual interfaces are no easy thing [...]

Continue Reading...

Leap

I’m trying to decide whether I like Leap or not. On the one hand, the Finder has been overdue for a major overhaul for years. On the other, it may not be major enough.

A lot of what Leap tries to do has been in the back of my mind for quite a while. I keep [...]

Continue Reading...

Finding strategic learning funds

Training Industry Times recently published some rather disappointing statistics: Over 92% of surveyed business have experienced pressure to reduce their training budget in 2007. Worse, 56% reported that the pressure to reduce or altogether cut training costs were “significant.”
Is this attitude regarding education part-and-parcel of the declining attitude toward education in the United States? More [...]

Continue Reading...
  • Flickr
    My sinkGreenHills of SoCal...Green hills of SoCal...Green hills of SoCal...GreenlandGreenland
  • How I see the world

    Chapters Education Entropy Family FAQ Fun Life Hacking Politics Random Rantings Tao of Mac Technology Things that Matter Travel Work

  • Getting started
  • About Me

    This is me. Martial artist, zen student, programmer, writer and author, technologist, father of two, gamer and a resident of Los Angeles (well, the outskirts of it).

    I'm also Vice President of System Technology Institute, an avid Mac, Rational Unified Process and Python fan, and am working on a few book projects. You can learn more here.

  • Lifestream
    • Yesterday

      facebook (feed #2)
      Updated status on Facebook. Zacharias is home again home again, jiggity jig!
    • twitter (feed #11)
      Posted a tweet on Twitter. is home again home again, jiggity jig!
    • facebook (feed #2)
      Updated status on Facebook. Zacharias is feeling all better now... (it's a nasty flu, go get the shot!)
    • twitter (feed #11)
      Posted a tweet on Twitter. is feeling all better now... (it's a nasty flu, go get the shot!)
    • November 17th

      facebook (feed #2)
      Updated status on Facebook. Zacharias is feeling completely overwhelmed by Chaos. (Embracing it could be a relief... tempting... but...)
    • twitter (feed #11)
      Posted a tweet on Twitter. is feeling completely overwhelmed by Chaos. (Embracing it could be a relief... tempting... but...)
    • November 16th

      blog (feed #1)
    • facebook (feed #2)
      Updated status on Facebook. Zacharias Looking for a really great Software Quality Assurance analyst. NOT a software tester, darnit, that has nothing to do with QA.
    • twitter (feed #11)
      Posted a tweet on Twitter. Looking for a really great Software Quality Assurance analyst. NOT a software tester, darnit, that has nothing to do with QA.
    • facebook (feed #2)
      Updated status on Facebook. Zacharias I think the problem with most workout schedules is that they are a schedule. Just go. Nearly every day. That'll do.
  • Archives
  • Cloud
  • Meta
  • Translation