Every age has it’s tools. Many, many years ago, in 1976 to be exact, squinty-eyed nerds with a social deficiency ruled the computer world. They talked to eachother in a secret code, wore geeky clothes and made sure that everybody thought that computers were magic. To make sure that nobody could ever use a computer to edit a file, they all swore to never ever use another editor than… <scary music> vi </scary music>.
Tag: opinion
It’s not about tools; it’s about people
Last week a collegue of mine did an introductory talk about RUP (Rational Unified Process). It was an interesting talk about how RUP can be applied in projects, what the philosophy is behind RUP, and lessons learned during her first RUP workshop.
After the talk, we discussed how RUP looked a lot like DSDM, Agile and XP. In all these methods, developers are arrogant enough to “demand” customers to conform to their process. Sure there is a lot to be said for consulting the customer often, and having lots of pre-releases, but the customer is still the customer, not your in-house QA department.
Remember The Milk review
This morning I thought I had way too much tasks, way too much paper on my desk, a messy inbox, and a cluttered schedule. Then I made a terrible mistake: try to solve this with more tools. You don’t always solve “more X” with “more Y”.
If Not HTTPS Then Exit
Hello kids. Yes, if you are writing applications for consumer companies, there’s a good chance I’m talking to you. We need to have a talk, urgently. It’s about a whole new way of doing things, and it’s a new word in your dictionary. The word is “secure” (linked to Webster’s for your convenience.
Escape from Alcatraz
Should you be in the position that you are convicted to spending 3 or 4 hours in the Dutch Alcatraz theatre program, there are a few things you should know beforehand. The photographs on the site have absolutely nothing to do with the show itself, and should not be used to judge setting or quality. The audience is not only encouraged, but in fact required to play an active part in the “show”. The whole show is based on humiliation of people in front of their friends/collegues. The show is definetely not wheelchair friendly, and toilets are in fact unreachable by wheelchair.
Scholierenstaking (Dutch)
Tijd om auto’s in brand te steken van onschuldige mensen die daar jaren voor gespaard hebben want ojee, de scholieren krijgen 1040 lesuren. En dat terwijl ze 960 uur al genoeg les vinden met al dat huiswerk dat ze krijgen. Het is zelfs zo erg dat het komt tot Aanhoudingen bij scholierenstaking. Misschien is het tijd om het op een akkoordje te gooien.
Stuff to think about
Normally I try to steer clear of any politics, beliefs, or war on this blog, but I could not resist to link to this google video I found, where Arab-American psychologist Wafa Sultan has some strong words to say to (extremist) Muslims on Al-Jazeera. Although broadcast in February 2006, I just noticed it, and I think she has some good points.
Personaly I don’t believe you should interfere with people’s lives if they’re more than 10km away from your home (and they shouldn’t interfere with yours). Say hello to your neighbour and ask how his/her day went. You’ll notice that you can often help or solve your neighbours problems easily. Stop worrying about those people 10.000km away. If their neighbours follow your example, soon the world will be an even better place!
It ain’t what you do…
…it’s the way that you do it. Last week I noticed a funny thing in an application I’m involved in as a developer. For logging in to the application, the term “Log On” was used. However, for logging off, “Log Out” was used. This did not feel right, so I searched a bit on the use of these terms. It looks like more people are having trouble choosing one form or the other, and are also mixing on/off and in/out.
Sharpening, denoizing, smoothing, enhancing, vandalizing!
To every photo-editing, image-manipulating, red-eye-reducing software developer on the planet: Sharpening photographs by default is NOT a good idea! If images aren’t sharp directly from the camera, there was something wrong with them to begin with. Most camera’s nowadays make fine pictures which don’t need sharpening.
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Dodenherdenking (2)
Vorig jaar heb ik mij aardig druk gemaakt over de abnormale manier waarop steeds meer mensen met dodenherdenking omgaan. Dit jaar was mijn ervaring gelukkig een stuk prettiger. Ik heb een klein stukje van de herdenking op de dam gezien, en dat was duidelijk een stuk beter dan vorig jaar. De taptoe werd foutloos en netjes geblazen, zelfs toen er (hoorbaar) iets omviel. Chapeau. Ook het inzetten van het volkslied waarbij mensen spontaan mee begonnen te zingen was erg goed om te horen.
Na de herdenking ben ik overgestapt op de uitzending vanaf de Grebbeberg. Minder (geen) toespraken, een stuk beter. Van mij mag het commentaar bij de uitzending ook nog weg, dat past beter bij het “geen toespraken” beleid en zorgt ook voor minder gewauwel “kijk er staan veel mensen”… Ja dat zie ik! Geluid uit, en probleem opgelost.
Nee (nogmaals) ik ben geen herdenkinsfanaat, maar ik vind dat mensen wel weer eens wat meer op hun gedrag, respect en elkaar mogen gaan letten. Bijvoorbeeld: Prachtig als je op je blog schrijft dat je je irriteert aan aggressieve weggebruikers, maar geef je ook het goede voorbeeld als je in je auto zit?
“A people that values its privileges above it’s principles soon loses both” – Dwight D. Eisenhower
Ok, genoeg gezeurd. Zennnn.