The Time Traveler Convention at MIT [link]
May 7, 2005, 10:00pm EDT (08 May 2005 02:00:00 UTC)
East Campus Courtyard, MIT
42:21:36.025°N, 71:05:16.332°W
(42.360007,-071.087870 in decimal degrees)
I can't say I already went with a straight face... but it's a weblog so you should probably just believe me. In fact, I've gone a hundred-thousand times already and it never gets old!
Your and Your Research
[google]
Onward... I've printed this out and read it, re-read it... “You and Your Research” is a transcription of a speech made by Richard Hamming in 1987. Richard Hamming was a Bell Labs computer scientist that had an amazing, analytical insight into the dynamics of successful scientists (abstracted into the dynamics of successful
people in any field in his speech). Richard's topic was primarily about developing yourself as a professional.
The ideas behind his stories and the speech revolved around the principles that result in your level of success:
- luck
- intelligence
- courage
- fame
- persistence
- working conditions
- age
- drive
- ambiguity
- committment and priorities
- comfort zone
- opportunism
- open vs. closed door
- innovation
- selling your ideas
- personal analysis (self-delusion)
- adaptation
These quotes are hammered home with some brilliant stories in the speech:
“Knowledge and productivity are like compound interest. Given two people of approximately the same ability and one person who works ten percent more than the other, the latter will more than twice outproduce the former.” - Richard Hamming
“What appears to be a fault, often, by a chance of viewpoint, turns out to be one of the greatest assets you can have.” - Richard Hamming
“Luck favors the prepared mind.” - Pasteur
Difference between Japan and US [link]
Kathy Sierra made a great post on aesthetics using her visit to Japan as an example... Complete with more pro-right-brained shinanigans!
There has been some great stuff at PASSIONATE. They're the ones behind this book I've seen jump out at me on every Border's geek-shelf I've tripped across in the last 6 months...
Print | posted on Monday, May 02, 2005 12:23 AM