Ever wonder how a GPS works? Yeah, I know, probably not. But here’s a really simple explanation: by finding the intersection of your distance from three or more points, or in this case, satellites in the sky.
This is commonly referred to as “triangulation.” The idea is if you have 3 or more sources, you can get a pretty good bearing on where you currently stand.
The same is true for information.
How well informed can you really be if you’re only digesting one or two sources of information?
My wife asked the baker to write “Happy Birthday Davis” if it would fit on the cake.
We she picked up the cake, it said “Happy Birthday Davis, if it fits.”
I thought this was a bad urban legend, but it really happened
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been taking stock of how I operate on various development projects. The big conclusion I’ve drawn is this: I end up doing a lot of the same work over and over.
But not because I’m terribly inefficient or missing some frameworks or tools. It’s because the problems I’m solving are generally complicated enough to be interesting, but not so complex that I don’t want to do them.
In other words, I’m working to work.
Joel’s great follow-up on Architecture astronauts was the first clue, but the nail came from this article on workaholics (via 37 Signals):
…as perfectionists, they may become so fixated on inconsequential details that they find it hard to move on to the next task, Robinson said.
As Porter put it: “They’re not looking for ways to be more efficient; they’re just looking for ways to always have more work to do.”
That’s it, in a nutshell.
Just bought REM’s new album Accelerate, and I’m about halfway through on my first listen.
Finally! REM is making good music again!
It’s short — 11 tracks, 35 minutes — but so far, it’s good, twangy and catchy, with that little REM edge.
The first two songs are my favs, but I’m sure after I listen to it a thousand times over the next few days I’ll have more.
Give it a listen if you’re a fan of late 80s REM. You’ll dig it.
For those of us in North Carolina — don’t forget to vote tomorrow!
I voted early over the weekend, and I’m glad I did.
