…People Won't Be Sure You've Done Anything At All
“When you do things right, people won’t be sure you’ve done anything at all.” — God to Bender, “Godfellas” episode of Futurama.
Quotes
Travel
“Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.” — Miriam Beard (I liked this one so much I’m totally stealing it from my friend Maitri’s post… thanks Maitri!)
Software Patents
“Granting patent protection to advances that would occur in the ordinary course without real innovation retards progress and may … deprive prior inventions of their value or utility.” – Justice Anthony Kennedy.
Watching IT All Fall Apart
“It’s like leaving a book in a pail of water for five years, then trying to get it out in one piece.” – my friend Kevin Kettner, speaking with me about how some organizations ignore their IT infrastructure so completely that when they finally need to do something with it they find they have to redo it all. Also see “tip of the iceberg” and “yak shaving.”
Hearing God Laugh
“Announcing your plans is a good way to hear God laugh.” – Al Swearengen, “Deadwood“
Talking
“You don’t learn very much when you yourself are talking.” – Eric Schmidt
Analyzing Conditions
“The disadvantage of spending all of one’s time and resources on analyzing conditions is that you will never get to the original cause, the source of the problem. You may get a temporary answer for how an accident happened, but as long as the original cause is not discovered, you will never be able to totally prevent it happening again.” – Gehlek Rimpoche in “Good Life, Good Death”
Understand
“Do not weep; do not wax indignant. Understand.” – Baruch Spinoza
Boondoggles
“By the time (the Leaning Tower of Pisa) was 10% built, everyone knew it would be a total disaster. But the investment was so big they felt compelled to go on. Since its completion, it cost a fortune to maintain and is still in danger of collapsing. There are no plans to replace it, since it was never needed in the first place. I expect every installation has its own pet software which is analogous to the above. ” – Guy Kawasaki
Carl Sagan, We Miss You
Today is the tenth anniversary of Carl Sagan’s death. The world needs more people like Carl Sagan, bringing science, skepticism, and critical thinking to the fight against complacency, creationism, and blind faith. I have to remind myself that some birds aren’t meant to be caged. Their feathers are just too bright. And when they fly away, the part of you that knows it was a sin to lock them up does rejoice. Still, the place you live in is that much more drab and empty that they’re gone. – Red, “The Shawshank Redemption”
