Superior leadership, make no bones about it, is pure selling…establishing the perception, the feeling, the picture, that your view is right, that you listen, hear, and understand, that you are worth listening to and following.

A Passion for Excellence, pg 109. Written about 20 years before Twitter.

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When the little ones reach a certain age, your home is filled with the pitter-patter of face plants.

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1440×900, up from last year.

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It is not the size of the codebase which makes it hard to grok, but the poorness of the design.

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This month’s electric bill is brought to you by GE: “We bring good things to light.” ™ (c)

Usage by GE appliances: $0.18 per KW/h totaling $23.48

Usage by Kenmore appliances (see note 1): $0.53 per KW/h totaling $50.23

Usage by unlisted appliances: $0.26 per KW/h totaling $39.32

Total Due: $113.03

Note 1: PG&E is currently involved in litigation with Sears Kenmore, Inc. Since utility access fees are not being paid during the course of the pending legal action, full uncompensated rates apply.

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This article calls itself “Beer 101″ but it leaves me pretty flat. I grew up in a place that had “both kinds of beer”, Bud and Bud Light, and thus thought I hated beer. But there’s way more out there. Ask for some of these:

Lagers: Oktoberfest, Bock, Doppelbock, Eisbock.

Hybrids (having characteristics of both ales and lagers): California Common (aka Anchor Steam),  Altbier.

Ales: Hefeweizen, Dunkelweizen, Scottish ale, Scotch ale, Lambic, Dubbel, Tripel, Barleywine.

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Pi, an irrational number, cannot be expressed exactly as a fraction of integers (and all real-world length units are ultimately based on integers). So either pi is not a circle’s ratio of circumference to diameter, or circles don’t exist (or both!)

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So, Yahoo! is looking for a new CEO.

Bill Gates just retired.

Hmm.

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To celebrate the unlamented demise of Valleywag, use as many of the ten insulting words you should know (along with any other appropriate words) as you can in a single short paragraph. Post in the comments below. This site is for geeks of all ages, so keep things PG. All right, PG-13. My favorite will be announced later.

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A special comment. My most vivid memory of my late Grandpa.

Even after retiring, Grandpa needed to do small jobs around town to make ends meet. One was cleaning a small sporting goods store. Once, with all the excitement of visiting family from out of town (that would be us), he forgot to clean one night. The next day, the shopkeeper was understandably irate, and waited around to speak face-to-face. “I screwed up,” Grandpa simply said. A short exchange followed, with typical Midwestern bluntness and politeness, the resolution being that it would never happen again. The shop got exceptionally well cleaned that day. Crisis averted.

That’s been a powerful lesson for me. When you screw something up, admit it, fix it the best you can, and move on.

-m

P.S. No, I haven’t done any major screw-ups lately, at least any that I know about. I was reminded of this by a much-publicized interview on Letterman.

An alphabetized CD collection is a sign of a diseased mind.

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There exist two kinds of geeks in the world. Those that see a backwards E, and those that see a 180-degree rotated E.

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On a Mac keyboard, why is “caps lock” in lower case?

Flickr photo by catcubed.

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Polyhedra: n. (plural) - Sketches done by an artist of the male gender.

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The Penrose is mightier than the thorn.

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Tough economic times? Take 1.2 volt, 2.5 Amp/hr NiMH batteries (technically “cells”). Call it 3 W/hrs of energy each. The going electricity rate here is about $0.15/KW-hr. Thus fully charging four batteries with a 50% efficient charger costs approximately $0.0036.

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Debates are boring. Host your own through the magic of RPG. GURPS character sheets for the 2008 US Presidential candidates:

Obama: ST:10 DX:11 IQ:14 HT:10

Advantages: Allies (Wright, Ayers) [0 point advantage], Charisma, High Fatigue Threshold, Unfazeable

Disadvantages: Elite, Pacifism, Stuttering, Pronunciation of “Pakistan” [quirk],

Skills: Administration:14, Computer Operation:12, Diplomacy:12, Enthrallment:11, Law:13, Politics:14, Public Speaking:15, Strategy:13, Writing:12

Advantages: Allies (Lieberman, Hannity, Petraeus), Combat Reflexes, Daredevil, High Pain Threshold, Military Rank

Disadvantages: Age, Bad Temper, Chronic Pain, Stubbornness

Skills: Administration:12, Carousing:15, Diplomacy:9, Gambling:10, Leadership:13, Piloting:11, Politics:16, Public Speaking:13, Soldier:11, Tactics:13, Special skill–Maverick:18

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GeekDad to 7-year-old: “You need to include a bibliography in your report.”

7-year-old: “What! I’m not putting naked pictures in it!!”

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Who is this guy anyway? Be sure to hit the link for the equivalent terms in 80+ countries. There’s Jos Bleau in Canada, Jah D in Jamaica, Joe Borg in Malta, and Joe Bloggs in New Zealand. Based on the economic indicators and other predictions, 无名氏 might be popular soon too.

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Native Germanic-language speaker: “What is your name?”

Native Romance-language speaker: “How do you call yourself?”

Native RDF speaker: “How do you call what your name is?”

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One state, two state.
Red state, blue state.

Yes. Some are red. And some are blue.
Some are old. And some are new.
Some are sad.
And some are glad.
And some are very, very bad.

Why are they
sad and glad and bad?
I do not know.
Go ask your dad.

Not one of them
is like another.
Don’t ask us why.
Go ask your mother.

Today is gone. Today was fun.
Tomorrow is another one.
Every day,
from here to there,
shenanigans are everywhere.

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A food calorie (kilocalorie) is the amount of energy required to heat one liter of water one degree C. Therefore, when you drink one liter of ice water your body has to warm it up to 37C, giving it an effective calorie content of negative 37.

Room temperature (25 degree C) water, on the other hand, has only -12 calories per liter.

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A Geek sits in a room filled with books, internet terminals, and a few comfortable chairs. All around, people are reading copyrighted materials, event taking them home to “borrow”. The Geek uses free wi-fi to catch up on email and postings. And the poor, starving content creators aren’t getting a cent. How can this travesty continue?

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“If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the precipitate.”

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Has there ever been a case of mitigated gall?

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chromatic: O(n^3) isn’t so bad when n=1 or 2.

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Google is a much better search engine for everyday calculations in the search bar, like say

[439600 light years / 200 km/sec]

(compare Y!, search.microsoft.com, er, msn.com, er, live.com)

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Blackberry singing in the dead of night

Take these calendars, and do invite

All your life

You are only waiting for this email to arrive

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P.S. Got a better one? Post it. -m

I hereby refuse to eat any fruits or vegetables that are not certifiably carbon-based.

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The color magenta has no wavelength. It exists only in your mind.

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