dhunay.blog

Friday, September 26, 2003

Insanity

In my experience I have seen many projects fail. They fail for various reasons. Some of those reasons seem, well, reasonable. Others are downright silly.

My definition of insanity is doing exactly what you did before all over again, but expecting different results the next time. The fatal flaw on many projects I’ve seen was the view that you must have consensus at all cost. Allowing the business people to dictate how software development should be done offers a perverse corollary. Why do project managers make these spectacularly inept decisions? Projects need to be driven by the results desired; rather they are driven, managed and crippled by one or two closely held assumptions that were absolutely insupportable in the light of day. So they become just another multimillion-dollar casualty. It happens all the time—way too often. And I just shake my head and think: We’d never run our families this way.

# posted by Nav : 10:56 PM

Thursday, September 25, 2003

The Ear-wax and Boogers Thread

Being a fan of the mysterys of the human body I've always been intrigued by "why" questions related to the human body.

Here is a thread that I found particularly amusing.

# posted by Nav : 12:59 PM

Monday, September 22, 2003

The answer to life itself

Compaq has finally provided a FAQ for the longest outstanding question "where is the any key?"

Now if someone could tell me how I go about "booting" my system I'd be in pig heaven.

# posted by Nav : 9:38 AM

Wednesday, September 17, 2003

Everything is better in Canada

A desperate American recording industry is waging a fierce fight against digital copyright infringement seemingly oblivious to the fact that, for practical purposes, it lost the digital music sharing fight over five years ago. In Canada.

'On March 19, 1998, Part VIII of the (Canadian) Copyright Act dealing with private copying came into force. Until that time, copying any sound recording for almost any purpose infringed copyright, although, in practice, the prohibition was largely unenforceable. The amendment to the Act legalized copying of sound recordings of musical works onto audio recording media for the private use of the person who makes the copy (referred to as 'private copying'). In addition, the amendment made provision for the imposition of a levy on blank audio recording media to compensate authors, performers and makers who own copyright in eligible sound recordings being copied for private use.'
-- Copyright Board of Canada: Fact Sheet: Private Copying 1999-2000 Decision

As the RIAA's "sue your customer" campaign begins to run into stiffening opposition and serious procedural obstacles it may be time to think about a "Plan B". A small levy on storage media, say a penny a megabyte, would be more lucrative than trying to extract 60 million dollars from a music obsessed, file sharing, thirteen year-old.

If American consumers objected -- well, the music biz could always follow Southpark's lead and burst into a chorus of "Blame Canada". Hey, we can take it….We'll even lend you Anne Murray or Celine Dion - you pick.

# posted by Nav : 8:04 AM

Monday, September 15, 2003

Spelling Bee

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by it slef but the wrod as a wlohe.

# posted by Nav : 4:15 PM

Thursday, September 11, 2003

To Be Or Not To Be

Growing up, I always wanted to be a superhero. Sometimes I would wish I could be the Incredible Hulk, other times I wished I could be Superman.

Recently I was asked the question "If you could be a superhero for a month, which superhero would you choose?"

Here are the plus' & minus' for some of my favorites:

Spiderman
+ What a swinger (but then again, so was Tarzan).
+ Cute girlfriend.
- Mask would be a bit claustrophic.
- The whole sticky web thing would be a problem when dealing with toilet paper in the potty.

The Hulk
+ When he gets angry, every one pays attention.
+ Super size and strength.
- Wardrobe would cost a fortune.
- Green isn't my color.
- Cost for anger-management counseling would be exorbitant.

Wonder Woman
+ Use that golden lariat to make everyone tell the truth, including politicians and car salesmen.
+ She's one super-chick.
- Too much time spent at salon getting hair to do that Marlo Thomas-That Girl flip.
- A rope and fancy bracelets as the sum total of your weapons?
- Wardrobe - Give the woman some pants.

BatMan
+ Cool car.
+ A belt full of Fancy gadgets.
+ Colorful criminal foes.
+ You're a millionaire living in a mansion with one incredible basement.
+ Who wouldn't want Alfred for a butler?
+ You get to wear a cape.
- Wacked out dependent relatives (cooky aunt and pipsqueak nephew).
- Pointy ears on mask and cowl are far from hip.
- Annoying bat signal let's everyone know when you're on call.

Superman
+ Can fly so fast you can turn back time (Oooh, I mentioned a Cher song).
+ Super strength just because the planet orbits a yellow sun.
+ X-ray vision makes voyeurism very interesting.
+ Freezing or flaming breath (makes lighting the charcoal at a BBQ one easy job.)
+ Kryptonite is about as common as a new job in this economy.
+ Cape looks mighty cool fluttering behind as you fly.
- Lycra tights can be unflattering.
- The boots are just silly.
- Have to save annoying Jimmy Olsen every 15 minutes.
- Have to have inner debate about whether to save annoying Jimmy Olsen every 14 minutes.
- Eyeglasses make for one lousy disguise as Clark Kent.

# posted by Nav : 4:40 PM

Tuesday, September 09, 2003

Anything sells

Stumbled across this link in my readings...

It's not a crack house, it's a crack home.

# posted by Nav : 9:32 PM

Monday, September 08, 2003

US Congress relies on "foreign" BlackBerrys

An article that I found to be (unintentionally) rather amusing explains that the US Congress is intervening to try to prevent the foreign (Canadian) RIM Blackberry service from being shut down because Congress relies on their Blackberrys in order to stay in touch with each other.

The funniest thing is, I'd be willing to bet that the vast majority of the members of the US Congress have no idea how to operate their Blackberry!

# posted by Nav : 10:40 AM

Friday, September 05, 2003

Bad Movie

Yesterday I discovered that Steven Seagal had stared in a new movie that just hit the shelves. The movie was titled Out For A Kill. Being a glutton for punishment I decided to rent it. Damn Billy! That was the 2nd worst movie I have ever seen. The storyline was pathetic and the acting was atrocious. And why oh why does he continue to wear those long jackets? What's he trying to cover up?

BTW...the worst movie I have ever seen is Punch Drunk Love staring Adam Sandler.

# posted by Nav : 9:15 PM