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Where’s your external brain?

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SD-card-shadowedFor years I’ve kept snippets of code in a file that I refer to when I need a cookbook of sorts to perform some magic incantation I only need to invoke once or twice a year. I just don’t need to keep this kind of stuff in my head. I call the file Gems of Wisdom.

You know, in programming (which I do a lot of), there are often little gotchas that require hours or days to figure out. And once you’ve figured them out, it’s easy to forget them if you immediately move on to the next challenge. Working at the level I do, which often requires typing command-line stuff, I’d never remember this stuff character by character unless I used it every day. [Read more…]

Do you hear yourself?

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sky-passport-photo-2013
The real “Sky”?
sky-2013-this-hat-laughs-at-rain
The real “Sky”?

“Do you hear yourself?” in your web site and marketing?

In an article  Content: Guided by Voices, (on Feedblitz’s blog) Bob LeDrew exhorts you to help your organization or yourself find your voice — your legitimate voice. He explores a few ways and examples, including some sketching and visual methods (I use sketching and visuals all the time when I’m exploring ideas!). And arrives at a way of checking your progress. [Read more…]

As the mouse turns – Are you twisted or are you straight?

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use-mousie-twistedAre you “straight” or are you “twisted?”

You’ve probably never thought about this, but if you are currently using a mouse, take a look at how the mouse is positioned with respect to your screen. Is the mouse pointing straight away from your body, or is it twisted around to point directly at your screen?

I constantly find that I’m unconsciously twisting the mouse to point toward the screen (first illustration), even though this makes no difference whatsoever in how it functions. It doesn’t get smoother—it doesn’t get faster—it doesn’t gain precision. Sweeping it leftward in an arc still moves the cursor to the left across the screen. Pushing it toward the screen still moves the cursor upward.

[Read more…]

In the long run they’ll get you “in the code”

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Bruce Schneier on securityBruce Schneier says “Remember this: The math is good, but math has no agency. Code has agency, and the code has been subverted.” (read original)

What this means is that the theory behind something — in this case encryption using “hard” mathematics — may be very good, but the implementation can be full of “gotchas” — errors, omissions, faults — and that‘s what will get you in the long term. He was specifically commenting on Edward Snowden’s revelations about the US National Security Agency and whether they can read all encrypted messages, but it can apply to many other software endeavors.

If you’re thinking of writing some software whose function is critical, and especially if lives depend on it, you have to be extremely careful with your implementation. And Open Source is a big plus because other eyes can look at your code and spot mistakes that you, as author, are likely to overlook.

So whatever you’re working on, be very, very careful with the implementation.