ranko

11 ms·

61.
by ranko 8y ago
Some of the great historical and contemporary speeches are given at trials - think of Nelson Mandela's defence when on trial for his life as a fine example. The closing speeches in a criminal trial are an opportunity for oratory as a p
62.
by ranko 8y ago
This reminds me of the Potempkin Village https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potemkin_village
63.
by ranko 8y ago
The tea keeps brewing, but this time in the milky water. Tea brewed in milk is noticeably different to that brewed only in water. This can be done deliberately (eg, when making Masala Chai), but it's not normal (nor, in my book, accept
64.
by ranko 8y ago
Can't help with the caffeine content, but I agree that there's a vast difference between good and bad tea. I particularly detest places that use a teabag and add milk before removing the bag. As George Orwell put it, "the bes
65.
by ranko 8y ago
Lehman's 2nd (increasing complexity) law addresses this. He defines an E-type system as one which is embedded in the "real world" and thus both influences and is influenced by it, and then claims that: "as an E-type syst
66.
by ranko 8y ago
See also Wittgenstein's (alleged) poker: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/mar/31/artsandhumanit...
67.
by ranko 8y ago
The (fire) pole wouldn't meet the (geographic) pole vertically. In fact, I suspect it would have to travel through the Earth, which might be a little bit disruptive as the moon orbits...
68.
by ranko 8y ago
They drive across the sidewalk when entering or leaving driveways, and drivers do not always see cyclists in those circumstances.
69.
by ranko 9y ago
"Foreign patients travelling to India to seek medical treatment in 2012, 2013 and 2014 numbered 171,021, 236,898, and 184,298 respectively" ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_tourism_in_India )
70.
by ranko 9y ago
Richard Feynman had, as ever, interesting things to say about how ants navigate and communicate[1]. He spent a long time looking at ants, following them, moving them around on bits of paper and eventually (I elide some details here) ended u
71.
by ranko 9y ago
In some places, an unwitnessed handwritten will is in fact recognised: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holographic_will
72.
by ranko 9y ago
This is quite specific to US English, for example "Top Ten Tips" number 2 about quotation marks. As Robert Bringhurst says in The Elements of Typographic Style : Most North American editors like their commas and periods inside th
73.
How to Be Wrong(mathenchant.wordpress.com)
1 points by ranko 9y ago|0 comments
74.
by ranko 9y ago
Growing Object-Oriented Software Guided by Tests , by Steve Freeman and Nat Pryce. The examples are, IIRC, in Java, but the ideas about TDD are applicable to any OO language. It'll make you think more about how you write testable code
75.
by ranko 10y ago
I used to think they were two different people, as chairing a bank and being a science writer are not normally found on the same CV. However, it seems that he's just one person ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_R
76.
by ranko 10y ago
Interesting aside - the Matt Ridley who wrote was chairman of the Northern Rock bank in the UK when it became the first British bank to suffer a run for 150 years. Perhaps when it was nationalised in 2008 he said something like "it tak
77.
by ranko 10y ago
It strikes me that a good philosopher would make a very good software tester. Maybe this article could be adapted as "with-the use of heuristics anybody can think like a tester".
78.
And the Most Realistic Developer in Fiction Is…(stackoverflow.blog)
3 points by ranko 10y ago|0 comments
79.
by ranko 10y ago
The Psychology of Computer Programming , Gerald M. Weinberg. We write code to be read by humans as well as machines.
80.
by ranko 10y ago
Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond: why, for example, did the Spanish conquer South America and not vice versa?
81.
by ranko 10y ago
"Till", in fact, predates "until". http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/6989/what-is-the-... . See, for example, the marriage service in the Book of Common Prayer (1662): "Till death
82.
by ranko 10y ago
Maybe you should read https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denying_the_Holocaust (Deborah Lipstadt, 1993)
83.
by ranko 10y ago
"Public safety" is surely too important to be left to the judgment of an individual. Why not create a Committee of Public Safety ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Committee_of_Public_Safety ) to make these determ
84.
by ranko 10y ago
We're reading this in a modern (1990s) translation - Balzac wrote in French.
85.
by ranko 10y ago
It's pleasing that a great French writer expounds on coffee, and (a century later) a great British one treats us to the requirements for a nice cup of tea: https://www.theorwellprize.co.uk/the-orwell-prize/orwell&#
86.
by ranko 10y ago
Slaughterhouse-five - probably his most well-known work, and at least partly based on his own experiences in Dresden in World War II. It's a very Vonnegut book, and a great gateway to the rest of his writing.
87.
by ranko 10y ago
It's claimed that history repeats itself, the first time as tragedy, the second as farce. The current presidency seems to be a troubling mixture of both. Experience often tempers incompetence, but there's no such hope for malice.
88.
by ranko 10y ago
Browsing the "self-help" shelf at my local charity shop, I came across Tarzan of the Apes and Breakfast at Tiffany's . I like to think that this is a clever deconstruction of the genre.
89.
by ranko 10y ago
"Advanced persistent threat"; see also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_persistent_threat
90.
by ranko 10y ago
Personally, I find Java 11 makes this much easier.

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