Learn from the mistakes of others

In response to: Book review: 'The Long Emergency' by Peter McMahon, posted 11 April 2006:

I wrote:

The real impending crisis is the end of economics as economists have become comfortable with.

The basis of our economies is not so much a particular cheap fuel, but a reliance on certain social constructs. If those constructs collapse, or are overthrown, we face the same excitement as the early stages of the Industrial Revolution.

At the moment, some societies - or at least segments of them - seem to be shifting the "means of production" away from purely physical to more ephemeral means. Much of our economic modelling is based upon the idea that resources are limited, and are valued according to supply and demand.

With intellectual products, the difficulties lie in enforcing the scarcity (through "Intellectual Property" regimes) and in their 'unreliability'. Putting more brains on a problem doesn't necessarily solve it faster, or better, or at all.

The content and the quality of education - and experience - are very important, but they're "mere" enablers. Both are required, but not sufficient, preconditions for a "knowledge economy" or whatever we're calling it today.

The emergency is artificial, not the least because we're trying to hold on to an old model of our own constructed reality. Something that cannot, and will not, last. Knowing that, we still fear the uncertainty of change - despite it being our oldest and most constant friend - and instigated by our own hands/minds.

In response to: Book review: 'The Long Emergency' by Peter McMahon, posted 11 April 2006:

I wrote:

The real impending crisis is the end of economics as economists have become comfortable with.

The basis of our economies is not so much a particular cheap fuel, but a reliance on certain social constructs. If those constructs collapse, or are overthrown, we face the same excitement as the early stages of the Industrial Revolution.

At the moment, some societies - or at least segments of them - seem to be shifting the "means of production" away from purely physical to more ephemeral means. Much of our economic modelling is based upon the idea that resources are limited, and are valued according to supply and demand.

With intellectual products, the difficulties lie in enforcing the scarcity (through "Intellectual Property" regimes) and in their 'unreliability'. Putting more brains on a problem doesn't necessarily solve it faster, or better, or at all.

The content and the quality of education - and experience - are very important, but they're "mere" enablers. Both are required, but not sufficient, preconditions for a "knowledge economy" or whatever we're calling it today.

The emergency is artificial, not the least because we're trying to hold on to an old model of our own constructed reality. Something that cannot, and will not, last. Knowing that, we still fear the uncertainty of change - despite it being our oldest and most constant friend - and instigated by our own hands/minds.

Law Council says UK cares more for Hicks...

The Law Council of Australia says Britain is embarrassing Australia by showing more concern for the fate of terror suspect David Hicks than his homeland. Law Council president John North has made the comments after London's Court of Appeal upheld the right of Australian-born Hicks to British citizenship. North is appealing to the Federal Government to do all it can to help Britain fast-track Hicks's bid.

...but Aust says a British Hicks can come home

Australia would allow a British David Hicks home if he is freed from a US military prison, Attorney-General Philip Ruddock says. Hicks, born in Adelaide, has received a boost to his campaign to be released from Guantanamo Bay after a UK appeals court upheld a ruling against the British Government's bid to deny him citizenship. Ruddock said the 30-year-old could return to Australia as a newly-released British citizen. "If he is no longer held by the United States, he has an entitlement to return to Australia," he told ABC radio. "There's no basis upon which he would be denied travel documents to travel to Australia," Mr Ruddock said.

Law Council says UK cares more for Hicks...

The Law Council of Australia says Britain is embarrassing Australia by showing more concern for the fate of terror suspect David Hicks than his homeland. Law Council president John North has made the comments after London's Court of Appeal upheld the right of Australian-born Hicks to British citizenship. North is appealing to the Federal Government to do all it can to help Britain fast-track Hicks's bid.

...but Aust says a British Hicks can come home

Australia would allow a British David Hicks home if he is freed from a US military prison, Attorney-General Philip Ruddock says. Hicks, born in Adelaide, has received a boost to his campaign to be released from Guantanamo Bay after a UK appeals court upheld a ruling against the British Government's bid to deny him citizenship. Ruddock said the 30-year-old could return to Australia as a newly-released British citizen. "If he is no longer held by the United States, he has an entitlement to return to Australia," he told ABC radio. "There's no basis upon which he would be denied travel documents to travel to Australia," Mr Ruddock said.

This is a profile i wrote for myself for the house magazine while I was studying in Darwin, late 1996. The underlying HTML was written around the same time, as I put it up on a now non-existent homepage.

( Read more... )

This is a profile i wrote for myself for the house magazine while I was studying in Darwin, late 1996. The underlying HTML was written around the same time, as I put it up on a now non-existent homepage.

( Read more... )

PAPER CHASE NEWSBURST
Thursday, March 09, 2006
Google settles 'click fraud' lawsuit for $90M
Cathy J. Potter at 10:38 AM ET

[JURIST] Google [corporate website] has agreed to pay up to $90M to settle a class action lawsuit [PDF complaint] filed last year in Arkansas state court, alleging that Google and other online search engine companies overcharged for pay-per-click advertising, in which advertisers pay a fee every time an internet user clicks on their ads. "Click fraud" occurs when fraudulent users click repeatedly, with no intention of buying. Motives for malicious clicking vary, but the result is increased cost to companies for unproductive Web traffic.

The Google agreement [press release], once approved by the court, will cover all advertisers who claim to have been charged but not reimbursed for invalid clicks dating back to 2002 through the date of settlement. Google maintains that the level of "click fraud" is very small; the settlement, less than one percent of Google's revenue over the last four years, supports the claim. Yahoo, Inc., also named in the suit, does not intend to settle.

AP has more.

PAPER CHASE NEWSBURST
Thursday, March 09, 2006
Google settles 'click fraud' lawsuit for $90M
Cathy J. Potter at 10:38 AM ET

[JURIST] Google [corporate website] has agreed to pay up to $90M to settle a class action lawsuit [PDF complaint] filed last year in Arkansas state court, alleging that Google and other online search engine companies overcharged for pay-per-click advertising, in which advertisers pay a fee every time an internet user clicks on their ads. "Click fraud" occurs when fraudulent users click repeatedly, with no intention of buying. Motives for malicious clicking vary, but the result is increased cost to companies for unproductive Web traffic.

The Google agreement [press release], once approved by the court, will cover all advertisers who claim to have been charged but not reimbursed for invalid clicks dating back to 2002 through the date of settlement. Google maintains that the level of "click fraud" is very small; the settlement, less than one percent of Google's revenue over the last four years, supports the claim. Yahoo, Inc., also named in the suit, does not intend to settle.

AP has more.

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/2006/03/31/traybaked_pork_c.php

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/2006/03/31/traybaked_pork_c.php

Any successful software company is going to consist of a thin layer of developers, creating software, spread across the top of a big abstract administrative organization.

The abstraction exists solely to create the illusion that the daily activities of a programmer (design and writing code, checking in code, debugging, etc.) are all that it takes to create software products and bring them to market. Which gets me to the most important point of this essay:

Your first priority as the manager of a software team is building the development abstraction layer.

The Development Abstraction Layer, Joel Spolsky, Joel on Software, April 11, 2006

Any successful software company is going to consist of a thin layer of developers, creating software, spread across the top of a big abstract administrative organization.

The abstraction exists solely to create the illusion that the daily activities of a programmer (design and writing code, checking in code, debugging, etc.) are all that it takes to create software products and bring them to market. Which gets me to the most important point of this essay:

Your first priority as the manager of a software team is building the development abstraction layer.

The Development Abstraction Layer, Joel Spolsky, Joel on Software, April 11, 2006