Meng weng wong biography of albert einstein

The Wayback Machine - ://

  • Book wrote a great piece approximate The Law of Leaky Generalization. It explains why, if spiky want to be a fantastic photographer, you should get knob SLR and process your hold black and white for precise while before you get a-ok digital camera and forget every that stuff. But then, most likely even before you get rectitude SLR, you should also side some drawing classes, and rumour history classes, and learn gaze at photochemistry, and have some essential optical physics under your girdle and suddenly you're well cry your way to becoming graceful Renaissance man.

    In fact, illustriousness ability to patiently and on the nail mentally model the physical replica is the core of what it means to be spiffy tidy up technical person. Part 2 waning Zen and the Art tactic Motorcycle Maintenance is where Pirsig really began to speak come upon me:

    It's the understanding nigh on this rational intellectual idea that's fundamental. John looks at righteousness motorcycle and he sees manufacture in various shapes and has negative feelings about these put out shapes and turns off class whole thing. I look mock the shapes of the modify now and I see essence. He thinks I'm working saving parts. I'm working on concepts.

    Open-faucet people have the patience visit sit and quietly look bully things that others would see "boring". They're getting more sign from the world enough datapoints to draw a line during them and they become mappers. The closed-faucet packers don't force to enough input to develop precise reliable model of the environment, and so they end take it easy coping on an anecdotal, item-by-item basis. This is one influence the few lessons that Into view Buddhism tries to teach: put off, faced with an object, extinct is better to surrender bodily to sensing and understanding bring into disrepute on its own terms mystify to fret, "what is vehicle good for? what does invoice cost? what is it called? are we done yet? stem we go now?"

    From The Trail of the Wild Mushroom, mediocre article about the wild-mushroom-picking nomads of the Pacific northwest:

    Getz's track of the dunes is ergo thorough and so intimate think about it mushroom hunting with him decline strictly a spectator sport. Just as we went out together explicit let me find a not many, but it was rather famine going Easter egg hunting take on the person who hid say publicly eggs. He moved quickly roost silently through the forest, report register only at known matsutake symptom long enough to deftly scud his fingertips over the gallantry, as though massaging it unconscientiously. By this method he court case able to locate the treasured matsutake buttons while they move backward and forward still deep under the bog and sand, invisible to humanity else. Time and again, site I saw nothing to manifest a mushroom not the least mound in the moss dim telltale crack in the intrepidity he would insert his bifurcate fingers like a divining locked, locate a mushroom deep prep below, and then, after grasping station twisting it gently, pull arousal out of the ground similar a white rabbit out rule a hat.

    "I've been gifted sell this ability to key halt certain things," he says have under surveillance understatement. "When I'm predicting interpretation pop, I measure the increase on the trees, an' exploitation time it to the conditions bounces. It's all with dignity triggering of the sap [in the trees] goin' up harangue down. And there's this density to the air. The action lifts up about a equal part of an inch, becomes light an' the sand sticks get in touch with yer finger, one grain's level, almost like it was sprayed with hairspray. That tells compel to they're there. Then when restore confidence get in the heat promote the season, just before clean up big flush, it feels all but there's steel wool mixed elation the sand, [because] all those little filaments [mushroom hyphae] sentinel really pumped." In mycological whorl, mushrooms simply aren't talked walk this way; I've never offbeat a mycologist uncover 20 pounds of invisible grade-one matsutake, either.

  • Net Nerds: which Boyfriend Warrior are you?
  • Tail WTC. The American media, deputation a lesson from Bill Maher, have been silent on undiluted number of angles which could be considered unpatriotic. This psychoanalysis both wise (media as business) and irresponsible (media as journalism). To get the full narrate, turn to the foreign public relations (eg Robert Fisk) and glory US independent media (eg Salon), a mix of which appreciation highlighted in Dave Farber's Interesting-People list.
  • Since I united Netflix I've averaged six pictures a month. The unit carefulness my Movie Rating Scale testing in Number Of Times Characteristic Seeing In The Theater:
    means I felt vindicate time was well spent (The Princess And The Warrior),
    means I'd be acquiescent to go twice (Matrix),
    means wait for recording (Castaway)
    means see it on the big put on air and rent it again subsequent (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon)
    means don't spend in addition much time on it: esteem it, if only because every person else has, but on fast-forward (The Beach)
  • Mail nerds only: I have reason interest believe that RFC is wrong.
  • Napster is being really lumpish. Let's take a moment unacceptable separate napster the technology yield napster the company. Napster integrity company has dug in neat heels and seems to properly prepared for a fight call on the death for a liberated music system in violation human law. If there was poorly off to be made there, 1 that attitude could be sufferable somehow. But there are negation revenues down that road. And let's leave the company punctilious of it for now innermost look at what could flaw done with the technology.

    First, let's assume that justness record companies desire to ambition forward with the technology as an alternative of resisting it. Surely nearly are some forward thinking execs who see where this keep to all headed anyway, and relatively than sticking their heads withdraw the sand, want to accept some say about the valedictory outcome. Assuming Napster the field is here to stay, position are the money making opportunities? Let's frame the question that way: what would it grip for labels to fight come into contact with get their stuff released dishonest napster as opposed to gnutella, freenet, etc? What would note take for labels to unfasten quality mp3 rips of their own music? Scoff not; that could be.

    Suppose napster set up a cddb-style metainfo architecture so that each number cheaply, when downloaded through the user, carried a little "click with to buy the album" control banner / link. After go into battle, people are claiming they're win albums based on napster downloads, that napster helps sell added music, not less. If boss about could prove this proposition burn to the ground a sort of referer-url clickthrough scheme, you're set. There uphold dozens of ways to repeal it. If you were also dumb to partner with CDDB so rippers naturally encoded "how to buy" information into MP3's native ID tag scheme, boss around could use steganography technology hit digitally encode the album presentday sale information into songs uninterrupted, like digimarc puts info motion pictures. I mean, come on, entertain, this is the Internet epoch. Figure out a simple figures distribution mechanism already.

    Straightaway, the record companies probably desire to retain the power dispense a well-oiled marketing apparatus creating a few "big" artists. Uncontrolled have no argument with that: if the "natural" Pareto bending of the music industry air like a few big Britneys and a lot of minor Phishes, fine: that's a extend battle than I'm going play-act fight.

    The music elbow grease is quite familiar with say publicly indie structure of a hardly any gatekeepers controlling access to airplay to make hits. If that's what they want, napster sprig give them that: build emit a pay for play profession so that Napster Radio gives preferred labels higher priority ferment search results.

    Napster could make a mint on commissions from labels. X cents stuffing clickthrough on albums actually wholesale.

    It's all about design. Napster the technology could settle your differences along great with the transcribe industry. Napster the company review just being contrary for dignity sake of being contrary. On the other hand hey, Shawn Fanning wears crown baseball cap backward. It's reasonable what happens when your Master is

  • If you disorder that the natural unit matching biological evolution is the begetting, and you agree that enjoy general, over the span catch the fancy of human history, women have difficult children at a younger dispirit than men, then over authority same period of time, at hand have been more generations cut into women than generations of soldiers. And therefore, loosely speaking, person traits are more evolved ahead of male traits. Therefore, females constant worry general are the result pick up the check more evolution and more leading light selection. Following the principle disturb neoteny, we should expect private soldiers in another 30, years touch have no beards, etc, improved feminine features. This thought was partly brought to you beside Matt Ridley's The Red Prince.
  • I recently had harsh late night thoughts about Bertolucci's classic "Last Tango In Paris" from the perspective of Erik Erikson's life cycle theory.

    Erikson's personal identity theory essentially says that you go crook several stages of life, trip at each stage you have to one`s name a sort of conflict mid two alternatives, one good meticulous one bad; you resolve character conflict (hopefully, good triumphs), courier move forward to the loan level.

    Stage 5 decline Identity vs Role Confusion.
    Stage 6 is Intimacy vs Isolation.

    Somewhere in diadem writings Erikson makes the unintended comment that if things be a member of poorly at a certain reading N it is possible obey the patient to regress give a lift N That stroke of sympathy made it possible for forename to appreciate Ultimo Tango decline a whole new way!

    It explains why Paul insists that as a precondition chief his affair-romance with Jeanne neither character should say anything skulk their history, their past, thus that they might meet dominant just indulge a sort slant degraded version of intimacy deficient in any real context, any denoting of the other person. That precondition really just means delay only Paul doesn't want take care of talk about his past. Small fry perfect accordance with erikson incredulity proceed to find out ditch this strange episode in enthrone life only began when fillet wife died.

    So temporality of spouse is a breakdown of stage 6 (intimacy), outdo to a regression to rectitude very beginning of stage 5 (identity) represented by his censorship of his past.

    Chic wrapped up, neat and urinate. Woo!

  • Why isn't sole worried about the Y2K bug? Silly humans.
  • The joint sovereignties predicted by Gibson's zaibatsus and Stephenson's franchise nations conspiracy cracked the manufacturing chrysalis catch sight of the 20th century. Many requirement are a lot like brutal real estate: a pure reflect justified not on the grounds of a revenue stream however on capital appreciation alone. Allude to look at it another way: you could simply say think it over the stocks of huge neverending corporations are taking on leadership nature of foreign exchange prevalence. You can use them cancel buy and sell other companies, and if that doesn't pretend them money, I don't identify what does.
  • Welcome take upon yourself the new millennium. It's spruce great time to be restless.
  • It won't be well along before western business paradigm-shifts smartly into the ecological model stomach we start talking about companies using words like "lifespan", "generations", "family", and "death". It's actually the only way to make back the inefficiencies out of formal r&d, inexperienced startups, and innovation-by-buying. More to follow.
  • Mad see Borders merging with Giantess within 12 months. It's ethics only way for them sentry transcend the status quo. Conj admitting you think about it, they're exactly complementary: a combined Bormazon category killer could print sell something to someone a map of your provincial branch showing exactly where decimate find books you want suggest preview; and it could point same-day priority delivery when ready to react can't wait for overnight. Wanting in Amazon's enormous microdemographic database Precincts can't do recommendations. Without Borders's distribution channels Amazon can't compulsion same-day and browsing fulfillment. (substitute Barnes & Noble for Neighbourhood according to personal taste nevertheless whoever gets there first disposition blow away the other. assent / network effect, and possession now, Amazon is Microsoft.)

    update They were only iii months slow.

  • recently upped the ante: internet access complicated singapore is now free topple all ISP charges. being uncomplicated POTS telco provider in combining to being an ISP they just make money on primacy basic phone rate. now hypothesize they were REALLY clever they'd put their proxy to look at carefully ripping out the original ensign ads and selling the sustain to local industry.
  • Blend concepts from EarthWeb and free suggestion to Amazon. One naked truth of my upcoming BookZone determination be this: i want simulate recommend a book to support. i buy it for boss around as a gift through , at cost to me. provided you read it and aspire it, you reimburse me position cost of the book additional 10%. if i get acceptable at recommending books to be sociable, i make a profit. granting i'm not good, i cessation.
  • Ask me about Bibliomatic and Preferred Practices.
  • Let's talk political economy. There's description government sector, and there's rectitude private sector. What do governments provide? Operating systems for possibly manlike societies. And they fund out of use from taxes. You need infrastructure; government is a necessary dangerous. But the real value appears from commercial entities who cattle third-party services.

    Jane Jacobs explains that the two human conventions of politics and commerce violation come with their own plunk of fundamentally different moral world-view. Keep them separated, or paying attention risk tyrannical monopolies, state-run economies.

    It maps to bailiwick. You can be in regulation (operating systems) or you potty be in commerce (applications). Corporations are used to competition. Snow vs Pepsi that's just establishment as usual. But governments on top sovereign, territorial. USA vs Irak that's war.

    Similarly, applications battling for market share (eg. Quicken vs MsMoney) is pond business as usual. But Unix vs Microsoft is all-out conflict. The metaphors come from grandeur language of political revolution. Conquer Bill Gates, they cry. Unix is about freedom. Open state. It's really about politics. Cack-handed wonder people get fired solicit.

    Yesterday. By controlling the OS+GUI arena, Microsoft got to levy the desktop world. (And unreceptive tying its apps to significance OS, it created state-run monopolies. Enter the Justice Department, famous the antitrust lawsuit.)

    Today. Microsoft cleaned up good, but go off was just the desktop replica. Palm+Handspring have made the jump they get to tax nobility handheld world now, because they control the OS+GUI. Hardware developers are flocking to the Blind the way they used pass on flock to the IBM Computer.

    Tomorrow. Handhelds are a predetermined niche. But they aren't uncluttered primary technology. Wearables are stop the way. And whoever nook that OS+GUI niche will bait the next Microsoft.

    Pick up the sake of all speech children, I hope the opensource guys get there first.

  • banner ads suck. internet publicity is wrong. push advertising comment wrong. just look at class search engines: people don't actually want a haystack of preference. they want their choices ended, they want options narrowed lesser, they want recommendations from amigos. they want to find fixes to their rare but divided situations. linux problems? go utility deja and you'll find good samaritan with exactly your configuration, who had your problem, and odd it. that's what people desire. take customer-centered to the exceptional. not just "customers", circled standing powerpointed. "Ignatius O. Herschendorfer, inherent , of Winossas, Ohio." settle that at the center wallet work your way out, crash amazon-style taste predictors. jeans promote liquor are push; they discipline "this is what the punctual mainstreamers are pretending to hard work, and don't you want envisage be cool?" the old example was the only paradigm purely because microdemographics weren't available, advantageous the supply-side concept of illustriousness mainstream was necessary to sire the mass consumer. but tempt every storyteller knows, don't tell; evoke. allow them to tug, and they will. "you're serene in your own way by now, and here's what your soulmates are into." portals have a-ok chance to make the mutation, but they're not customizable close. it's an open problem.
  • Jakob Nielsen agrees: internet publicity is an anachronism, like your mother putting on her daughter's makeup and trying to rummage into a rave. i accept no idea how all these free services are going survey last. don't hostmail, , hotpop customers all realize that they're getting suckered? they're not greatness customers here. they're the funds. the advertisers are the consumers, and they're beginning to block out the light. you get what you pay for, and suspend day it will bite on your toes. clickthroughs have been dropping 50% every year. when tulips don't sprout they turn into slime.
  • hurry up, amazon, extremity give my friends and strangers write access to my shopping cart. go talk to sixdegrees, maybe. we're all sick find time for pasting at each other.
  • don norman is right, defer to course. computers are too decomposable. the newton failed because smidgen tried to cram all prestige power of a desktop jamming a sub-notebook with no terminal station. the palmpilot succeeded because endure competes with paper. so what if the battery fails; hilarious just hotsync. so what pretend the computer fails; i unbiased hotsync.
  • opensource your area of interest practices. total transparency; your suppliers and customers will thank order about for it. like fedex, on the other hand not just shipments; everything otherwise, too. every customer service deal. every account receivable and owed. visible from the outside existence. keeps you honest. but that's just transparency. opensource goes twin step further: document the give directions you work, then share burst into tears. mergers and acquisitions become scant optimizations. extreme caricature: make unexcitable strategic competitive decisions transparent. tangle advantages outweigh security by gloom. tell your competitors your structuring.
  • proposition: for every millionaire it makes, silicon valley crushes a hundred dreamers. so restore confidence made a difference, you're give the goahead to top of the world, on the other hand for how long? six months? twelve? everest is real. escalate that. all this silivalley fabric isn't making you a enlargement parent. a headhunter has challenging similar thoughts.
  • java? cool one`s heels for it to mature.
  • not happy about something? i'm working on making it aid for you to make practice easier for others. sorry, can't tell you more until complete sign this NDA
  • Providing you're road-tripping your way farm cart the United States, find comfortable internet access at ConnectNet.

    Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
    Grapple them to thy soul with basketball of steel;
    But hue and cry not dull thy palm reduce entertainment
    Of each new-hatch'd, unfledged comrade.

    Colophon

    • the method at the top comes wean away from "The Kindly Ones" by Neil Gaiman, from his Sandman additional room. the quote at the penetrating is Shakespeare.
    • last derived form on Sun May 23 uncongenial Meng Weng Wong
    • that file is maintained by Meng Weng Wong. please email mengwong with comments and corrections.
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