Category: personal AnGoL

Posted on

rePost::Greek maths comic is surprise bestseller | COSMOS magazine

The proliferation of pseudo science and stupidity cannot be counteracted by non-fiction books or not fun (at least to a fictional normal person) reading material. We really need to counteract this by playing to what the market wants.
One of the reasons Japan leads in Robotics  is probably  anime.  We need more of things like this.  We must try to make science fun. A novel such as Logicomix for a host of subjects may probably help; although I suspect that the bestseller status of Logicomix just says how large the geek and nerd market is.

Shock seller
Originally published in Greek in the fall of 2008, Logicomix enjoyed a successful run at home. But its authors were unprepared for the reception in the United States and Britain, where it sold out on the first day of its release in last month.
The New York Times greeted the comic’s U.S. debut with a bemused “well, this is unexpected”. It said the story was “presented with real graphic verve” and “for the most part the ideas are conveyed accurately, with delightful simplicity.”
“I think the publishers (Bloomsbury) were shocked. I was shocked, too,” Doxiadis said. It sped up bestseller lists to occupy top 10 spots in comics, fiction and general book rankings on both Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.
Unlikely topic for a comic book
“No Greek book has sold abroad like this in 30 years,” said Dinos Vrettos, a manager at a major Athens bookstore.
The aim of Logicomix is “to tell a fascinating story about the history of ideas” said Doxiadis, who in 2001 published a novel titled “Uncle Petros and Goldbach’s Conjecture” about a boy’s quest for knowledge on his reclusive mathematician uncle.
“In Logicomix, the story I think is in some ways emblematic of much of what happened in the 20th century, with its search for certainty, for knowledge, and what often went with it, for power over life,” he added. “The fact that this idea looked like, to put it mildly, not a very likely idea for a comic book, never deterred me.”
via Greek maths comic is surprise bestseller | COSMOS magazine.

Posted on

rePost::Gojko Adzic » Joe the Developer doesn’t need a certificate

There is a concept called code smell, and in that spirit there is also I believe a company smell and if a company won’t hire you because of a lack of certification, well that is a company you probably shouldn’t work for. I’ve continuously stated that If I get an IT related certification I probably have given up or no longer trust my own skills. I hope I can follow through with this declaration!

There is a huge difference between training and certification. I guess that anyone, even Joe the Most-Experienced-Developer-In-The-World, would benefit from a few days of training by Ron Jeffries and most other people arguing for certification now. But that is because these people really have something to say about the way software is built and if you are looking for gems of knowledge that is the right place to look. Developers should take training to get that knowledge, not to get a piece of paper that is supposedly going to help them get a job (and it will not, at least in any company that really cares about development). Training is there to help you get started with a new practice or fill in the gaps. It is not the end of the journey but quite the opposite, just a beginning on the path to knowledge.
via Gojko Adzic » Joe the Developer doesn’t need a certificate.

Posted on

rePost::Who We Hire

Found this strangely comforting!

14 October 2009
Someone recently wrote to GitHub and asked:
Basically, I’m just curious if you guys have any hints for a younger programmer on how to escape corporate mediocrity before it becomes too late. I know I could ask on StackOverflow or somewhere similar and get lots of good responses, but I’m looking for an answer from a company that I’d love to work at rather than someone who may be stuck in the corporate world themselves and are just giving bad advice.
I’ve written about getting a job with open source before. But this is more specific: who would (and do) we hire at GitHub?
Simple: at GitHub we hire “The Girl or Guy Who Wrote X,” where X is an awesome project we all use or admire.
What’s your X?
via Who We Hire.

Posted on

rePost::When your IT job feels hopelessly stale, what's next?

When your IT job feels hopelessly stale, what’s next?
By Bob Lewis
Created 2009-10-14 03:00AM
Dear Bob …
I’m almost embarrassed to ask your advice about this because it isn’t much of a problem as problems go — except that it is for me.
y problem is that I’m feeling like I’m getting hopelessly stale — like I’m stuck in a rut, doing the same thing over and over again (I’m a sys admin, and my colleagues and I are good enough at it that we don’t have the fun of fighting fires).
I go to work every day dreading the same old routine, and yet my skills are perfectly suited to the job I have, and I’m working for a good company and like my manager. Even worse, I can’t come up with any other career choice that fits your “three circles” test (what I’m good at, what I enjoy, and what other people will pay me to do).
So I feel like I’m stuck, and it’s a bad feeling.
Any thoughts?
– Stuck
…
via When your IT job feels hopelessly stale, what’s next?.

Bob Lewis’ advice (only quoted the best part read the article for the whole advice):

My guess is that you’ve wrapped up too much of yourself in your career. It might be time for you to explore some other avenues for your satisfaction.
I once heard what I was told was an old Irish saying: “Life’s a banquet, and you’re invited.”
If it isn’t, it should be.
– Bob

I have to admit feeling this sometimes .

Posted on

rePost::Why I Slept with 1300 Women | OPEN Magazine

I strangely agree with him. I see this a lot of lying to get into a woman’s pants and in a way it reinforces the age old adage that men are arseholes. The people who are not assholes get lumped with the bad and in the end the good people suffer.

The problem with normal sex is that it leads to kissing and pretty soon you’ve got to talk to them. Once you know someone well the last thing you want to do is screw them. I like to give, never to receive; to have the power of the host, not the obligation of the guest. I can stop writing this and within two minutes I can be chained, in the arms of a whore. I know I am going to score and I know they don’t really want me. And within 10 minutes I am back writing. What I hate are meaningless and heartless one-night stands where you tell all sorts of lies to get into bed with a woman you don’t care for. The worst things in life are free. Value seems to need a price tag. How can we respect a woman who doesn’t value herself? When I was young I used to think it wasn’t who you wanted to have sex with that was important, but who you were comfortable with socially and spiritually. Now I know that’s rubbish. It’s who you want to have sex with that’s important. In the past I have deceived the women I have been with. You lie to two peo
via Why I Slept with 1300 Women | OPEN Magazine.

Posted on

rePost::Liberty, Self-Esteem and Self-Governance – Wendy Kaminer

This is both funny and scary in almost equal doses. Who watches the watchmen? Who determines what is not anti social. This is Fucked, In a world where things like women’s rights, minority rights, LGTB right’s were once considered non-sensical we have to go against things such as the one I quoted !

This is not harmless official maternalism: a government that concerns itself with the happiness or psychological well-being of its citizens is a government that will prohibit conduct or speech deemed psychologically harmful, or simply not conducive to happiness. Also known as a government actively hostile to liberty. In Britain, as Reason magazine reported two years ago, you can be served with an “Antisocial Behavior Order (ASBO) for engaging in conduct considered likely to cause others alarm or distress. This past year a woman subject to an ASBO was arrested for indulging in noisy, consensual sex in what is apparently no longer the privacy of her own home. I suppose you could call ASBO’s a form of democratization: what was once the prerogative of kings–the power to secure the arrest of people who irritated or “distressed” them–is now extended to peevish citizens who can invoke it against each other.
via Liberty, Self-Esteem and Self-Governance – Wendy Kaminer.

Posted on

Opportunity Lost

I botched a Job Exam/Interview last monday.
I could make the excuse that I had less than 3 hours of sleep and my body ached all over and that I cannot concentrate with all the talking happening around me but the real reason is that I wanted to work there and that put pressure on me.
It was a programming exam and the problems were really simple, but being nervous made my mind blank for more than two hours. This was funny because the exam was for 2 hours and I spent about 3.5 hours on the exam.
Damn, I also realized that I have a problem with problem solving. The sheer number of ways that something can be done produces a paradox of choice state for me. I cannot start doing something because knowing the multitude of things , of ways something can be done starts my mind to doing seemingly intractable (at least using my very limited brain power) number of considerations.
This on quiet reflection has always been a problem for me, why I take a very long time to do seemingly simple/straightforward tasks, and why seemingly complex tasks require a minimum of time for me to do. The former because there are just too many ways to do it, the latter because of complexity reduces the possibilities to a point where I can make a decision.
I have to find a way to work around this. This has been holding me back for a very long time.

Posted on

Looking Forward On Reading::Book Review – 'Logicomix' – A Comic Book About Logic, Math and Madness – Review – NYTimes.com

Written by Apostolos Doxiadis and Christos H. Papadimitriou
Illustrated by Alecos Papadatos and Annie Di Donna
347 pp. Bloomsbury. $22.95
Multimedia
Excerpt: ‘Logicomix’
Well, this is unexpected — a comic book about the quest for logical certainty in mathematics. The story spans the decades from the late 19th century to World War II, a period when the nature of mathematical truth was being furiously debated. The stellar cast, headed up by Bertrand Russell, includes the greatest philosophers, logicians and mathematicians of the era, along with sundry wives and mistresses, plus a couple of homicidal maniacs, an apocryphal barber and Adolf Hitler.
Improbable material for comic-book treatment? Not really. The principals in this intellectual drama are superheroes of a sort. They go up against a powerful nemesis, who might be called Dark Antinomy. Each is haunted by an inner demon, the Specter of Madness. Their quest has a tragic arc, not unlike that of Superman or Donald Duck.
via Book Review – ‘Logicomix’ – A Comic Book About Logic, Math and Madness – Review – NYTimes.com.

Posted on

Learned Today::Things I like to Blog About: Ritalin : Neurotopia

Ever since I read the new yorker article on cognitive enhancement drugs (ritalin adderall), I’ve been trying to finagle my way into at least trying them, sadly no go. Luckily no go,  It still is tempting, but if ritalin is pretty much like cocaine, I say no go and fear for all the children who take ritalin for ADHD.

Ritalin works the same way. Really. Sub Ritalin in for cocaine here and you have the same effect on DA and NE as you would with cocaine.
Sounds scary, right? Not quite so much. There are other factors with drugs than their mechanism that determine how they will make you feel. Cocaine has a very short active period, only about 20 minutes total. That’s not a lot of time, but the first rush is REALLY intense. Ritalin has a much longer active period, between 2.5 and 5 hours, depending what kind you use. And the WAY people take it makes a difference, too. If you, say, snort cocaine, it gets through the mucus membranes in the nose and into the bloodstream very quickly, giving you a rush as it hits the brain quickly. Ritalin is taken as a pill, which means it needs to get dissolved in the GI tract, and is often dissolved over a long period of time in long release formulas. This means that it comes on to your CNS very slowly, and won’t slam your transporters and have intense effects. And keep in mind that most people taking Ritalin are taking it in very low doses, doses too low to really feel good when taken orally (snorted is another matter), though high enough to increase concentration and focus.
So that’s Ritalin. Like cocaine, but not. Sci will save the debates for later.
via Things I like to Blog About: Ritalin : Neurotopia.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]