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Diamond-bullets

Diamond bullets is a collection of thoughts, opinions,
and anecdotes that you might find interesting.

The diamond bullets in this collection come from various places and times in my life. When I was a kid, my dad impressed me with is observation that the Church does not want Priests to marry, since when they died, their property would go their wife, not the Church.

Theologians might disagree with that, but it struck me a simple, common-sense observation that cut through a lot of mental clutter and over-thinking. Dad would continue to astonish me with diamond bullets. He once

pointed out that the reason politicians (lawyers) like light rail systems is that you need to hire hundreds of lawyers to negotiate the right-of-way, as well as working eminent domain, overhead rights, and the thousand legal headaches. He noted that to buy a fleet of buses you needed one lawyer, for maybe a day or two, to review the contract.

I have kept my eye out for these diamond bullets, and hopefully have contributed a few of my own. I hope you enjoy them.

Unwritten laws of engineering Written in 1944, this classic from the American Society of Mechanical engineers still endures. Excellence and success Success does not always derive from excellence. Sometimes it derives from worse. Much worse.

The Honeymooner's planning paradigm Ralph has the delusional vision. Ed and Trixie enable. Alice comes through in the end. Plagiarist Jayson Blair and the world Don't blame Jayson. Blame the bosses he sucked up to.

Money, deflation, and progress The more I learn about economics and monetary policy, the more I see that it all comes down to people getting off their ass. Swarming ants want water, not food. The ants swarming your house came for water. They will eat any food, but they seek water.

Drugs are for kids Excuse the provocative title. It's more accurate to say that recreational drugs are childish. Building computers is like raising kids From Newegg user N/A comes this profound remark:

Putt's law Those who understand what they do not manage, and those who manage what they do not understand. Build a goofy shopping cart... ...and the media will build a path to your door. Guest diamond by Joseph Glydon, Citibike.

Knobs vs touchscreens A letter to Bob Pease points out the frustrations and downsides to our menu-driven world. Understanding engineers First you understand management. A guest diamond by Ray Engelhardt.

Toaster user interface Back in 1991, one reader of electronics trade magazine EETimes saw what was coming.

Categories Art (2) Diamond-bullets (13) Humor (6) Keep-or-Toss Keep (5) Toss (5) Management (3) Movies (1) Politics (11) Suffering-with-software (31) Tech Electronics (30) System-engineering (4) Teardowns (2) Writing-tips (2)

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