Category: Fourre-tout

 

Users who want critical bug fixes and new features without actually upgrading their software also want magic flying candy-dropping ponies. Chromatic

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Do you remember the 1967 Mike Nichols movie called the Graduate? In this popular flick a young man who just finished college is wondering what to do next. What path should he follow to become successful?

He goes to a party and is buttonholed by an older gentleman who tells Him:

Mr. McGuire: I just want to say one word to you. Just one word.
Benjamin: Yes, sir.
Mr. McGuire: Are you listening?
Benjamin: Yes, I am.
Mr. McGuire: Plastics.

Well, if I had to advise a young person today, I would suggest “coding” instead of plastics.
Coding is a special language instructing a computer to execute specific tasks through a set of symbolic commands. Today, just about any technology requires coding.

Coders are in big demand and young people versed in this discipline won’t have any problem finding a very lucrative job.

And think of all the fun the kids could have. They could hijack your creepy neighbors’ car, they could open all the garage doors in the neighborhood, they could also hack into the Wi-Fi of all your neighbors, and terrorized them as well.

And then there is the exploit cottage industry.

“In computing, an exploit is a piece of software, a chunk of data, or a sequence of commands that takes advantage of a bug or vulnerability in order to cause unintended or unanticipated behavior to occur.”

 Failing to regularly update software programs (among other things) leaves you particularly vulnerable to Ransomware attacks such as WannaCry that affected 250,000 computers in 150 countries in 48 hours.

Large companies (such as Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook) are willing to pay “bug bounties” (up to $1,000,000 I read) to any coder who can uncover a perilous exploit (a flaw) that makes the program vulnerable to hackers.
Nothing to sneeze at!

So forget plastics and Rock bands, and steer your whippersnappers toward the new Eldorado called coding.

Alain

“A great lathe operator commands several times the wage of an average lathe operator, but a great writer of software code is worth 10,000 times the price of an average software writer.” Bill Gates 

“Don’t accept your dog’s admiration as conclusive evidence that you are wonderful.”  Ann Landers

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Some people seem to be unaware that there is a low-cost commodity widely available, yet too rarely used. This cheap commodity is called “humility”, a thoughtful quality that compels you to always take a modest view of your own importance.

After a few minor accomplishments, some people have a tendency to (as the French so elegantly put it) «péter plus haut que leur cul » (to fart higher than their a**hole.) In other words, some individuals are too easily inclined to believe in their own superiority. It happens to many of us, in (hopefully) brief moments of aberration.

After winning a few games of pétanque, you start feeling like you are hot stuff. You view some opponents with a mixture of mild amusement and superiority.

Almost everyone’s instinct is to be overconfident and read way too much into a hot or cold streak. Nate Silver

And then you unexpectedly lose a game 1/13. Shocking! Then shortly after, you lose your second game 0/13.
Bordel! How could that be? Fanny? ME?

But those defeats are reality-sobering reminders. They are meant to keep you grounded. They remind you that no matter how good you think you are, there is always somebody better (or luckier) than you. And it is a very good thing.

Humility is a quality (not a flaw) that serves its followers well. You prove your worth by deeds, not by words. And keeping your mouth shut is always the best policy.

« Le moi est haïssable » (ego is hateful) said Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) a long time ago. It is still true today.

Never underestimate an adversary. Custer did, to his everlasting sorrow. View each opponent with respect. If fate is kind to you, accept it with humility. If you lose, take it in stride. Win some, lose some.

Try to always sprinkle all your actions with a dash of humility. People will respect you for it.

Alain ?

If you would have people speak well of you, then do not speak well of yourself. Blaise Pascal

 

 

“The light you see at the end of the tunnel is the front of an oncoming train.” David Lee Roth

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We have right now in America all the makings of a spectacular Hollywood train wreck. The convoy is going too fast and the conductor is blithely ignoring advice and signals from railroad workers. It is a confusing situation for observers who know that something terrible is going to happen but cannot look away.

I have never witnessed a train wreck, but I have seen pictures of it. It can be horrifically spectacular.
But how could this happen in the first place? Didn’t the conductor realize he was going too fast? Did he misread the signals? Or worse, ignore the signals? Did he inhale some prohibited substance? Was he texting or twitting? Or (gasp) was he unqualified to drive that train?

No responsible grownup would behave that way… but does a grownup always reach an advanced stage of mental or emotional development? Not always it seems.

A train is only as safe as his conductor’s good judgment. Ignoring even a single signal puts the entire train and its passengers in jeopardy.

A good conductor does not scream at people to get out of his way. Neither does he threaten to run them over if they don’t move. He slows down, even stops to get a better appraisal of the situation.

But it seems that sometimes a George Custer syndrome is afflicting a train conductor. In a relentless pursuit of self-aggrandizement he disregards any warnings and forge full speed ahead toward a disaster waiting to happen.

Some lucid passengers noticing the reckless speed of train bail out as soon as they can. But it takes guts to jump off a speeding train (especially when some passengers personally vouched for that conductor) and some VIPs hesitate. They secretly hope for a divine intervention, but it is well known that God only helps those who help themselves.

Sometimes a mad train can  has to be stopped.

In Hollywood fashion gutsy stuntmen board the train (maybe by helicopter) and forcefully remove the engineer who is subsequently sent to Longwood House, St Helena to mull over his narcissistic past.

Is this going to happen to the American Mad Train? Many people are starting to lean toward this James Bondish denouement.

Alain