Category Archives: Incentives
The country and the country
Geoff over at BLDGBLOG has a great post about how Australia’s strange bid to avoid refugees makes some islands both Australian and not Australian. These islands become strange limbo zones of tortured legality, much like in “The City and The City”. It’s strange to see them give up sovereignty over land to avoid their own [...]
An explosive tale about airport security
I really really dug this post about carrying gunpowder through airport security. You can’t create a secure airport that is worth traveling through. The solution isn’t to figure out every possible way that people can attack airports and prevent those… That’s an insolvable problem. A better way is to find people who are trying to [...]
The NYC Government IT has given up.
My buddy Ian has a great post about his experience trying to find out if he had to move his car. Seems the DOT updates this info on Twitter rather than putting it out on their own website. Now that’s just crazy, but I know why. Sam used to work for the city and I’ve [...]
Why the Business Hates the Software Developers
Inspired by “Why I Hate Frameworks” So I wanted a custom spice rack, one that would really help my restaurant, but I didn’t want to build it myself. I’m no carpenter. I hired one though. “Can you build me a spice rack? Here’s what I need – “ “Just a sec,” he interrupted. “I’m going [...]
Also posted in Dev Tagged business, communication, Dev, Incentives, joelonsoftware, Software Leave a comment
Satoshi Kanazawa cannot think.
That this has not proven to be a handicap for someone employed by the London School of Economics is astounding and reflects poorly on them. I found him through the stupidest, most sexist article I have read this year. He argues: The power of female choice becomes quite apparent in a simple thought experiment. Imagine [...]
Also posted in Pals, Reviews Tagged gender, logic, logical fallacies, psychology, Satoshi Kanazawa cannot think, sex, sexism, sexuality, stupidity, terrorism, the death of academia 11 Comments
That Loathsome Phrase
“Someone has too much free time!” My hackles rise, my humours boil, and my smile disappears when I hear this. It is a defense of sloth, a milquetoast reproach of work and effort and love. But this post isn’t about that horror of a phrase. It’s about the folks who use their free time. The [...]
Also posted in Pals Tagged get excited and make things, Incentives, productivity, shut up and be awesome 4 Comments
Books: Supercapitalism
Robert Reich wrote a very surprising book on the interplay of capitalism and democracy. His argument is that we’re seeing a lot of problems in our democracy because we have demanded too much of corporations. If, instead, we strip away some of our fiction that corporations are people, we won’t expect them to be noble, [...]
Also posted in Books, Economics, Reviews, Save.the.world Leave a comment
NASA being slowly dismantled
Thought my pals might want to read this entry I found from Bruce Sterling about the Planetary Society’s campaign to fight for the mission and budget of NASA . It was bad enough when this administration removed “to understand and protect the Earth” as a primary goal of NASA. It just gets worse, and because [...]
Also posted in Money, Pals, Save.the.world Leave a comment
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