Michael Bates: April 2013 Archives
Astronomy Picture of the Day: Wringing a Wet Towel in Orbit
Expedition 35 Commander Chris Hadfield demonstrates the odd, fascinating result of wringing a wet towel in the microgravity of the International Space Station.
Coding, Fast and Slow: Developers and the Psychology of Overconfidence
"First off, there are, I believe, really two reasons why we're so bad at making estimates. The first is the sort of irreducible one: writing software involves figuring out something in such incredibly precise detail that you can tell a computer how to do it. And the problem is that, hidden in the parts you don't fully understand when you start, there are often these problems that will explode and just utterly screw you.
"And this is genuinely irreducible. If you do "fully understand" something, you've got a library or existing piece of software that does that thing, and you're not writing anything. Otherwise, there is uncertainty, and it will often blow up. And those blow ups can take anywhere from one day to one year to beyond the heat death of the universe to resolve....
"The key is that you first accept that making accurate long-term estimates is fundamentally impossible. Once you've done that, you can tackle a challenge which, though extremely difficult, can be met: how you can your dev team generate a ton of value, even though you can not make meaningful long-term estimates?"
Oklahoma Teacher: October 1921 issue: October Bible Readings
Back in October 1921, on p. 22, the official publication of the Oklahoma Education Association offered a list of daily Bible readings and weekly memory verses.
NYC Municipal Archives Online Gallery
A virtual time machine! See this Daily Mail story for some beautiful examples of photographed urban history from the New York City Municipal Archives.
"Welcome to the New York City Municipal Archives Online Gallery of over 870,000 images. Selected from the world-class historical collections of the Archives, most of these unique photographs, maps, motion picture and audio recordings are being made accessible for the first time. Visitors are invited to explore and search the collections individually, or across all collections by keyword or any of the advanced search criteria. The gallery includes many complete collections; for others, only representative samples are currently on display. Visitors are encouraged to return frequently as new content will be added on a regular basis. Patrons may order reproductions in the form of prints or digital files; most images can be licensed for commercial use. Please see the order page for further details."
Ohio - Old Playgrounds - a set on Flickr
Almost a thousand photos of old-fashioned playground equipment -- slides, merry-go-rounds, see-saws.
Choctaw Nation v. Oklahoma - 397 U.S. 620 (1970)
The 1970 U. S. Supreme Court case that decided (6-3) that the tribes retained ownership of navigable river beds in Oklahoma.
How Anti-SLAPP Statutes Work And Why They Are Important | Popehat
A very clear explanation of Strategic Lawsuits against Public Participation (SLAPPs), how a good anti-SLAPP statute (such as California has) protects your right to free speech with an early motion to dismiss that halts discovery, and the bad things that can happen to you if your state doesn't have a strong anti-SLAPP law. (The Popehat blog has an entire category about SLAPP.) The author, Ken White, is a former federal prosecutor who handles First Amendment defense cases.
How can you smell a SLAPP? Ken's mantra: "Vagueness in legal threats is the hallmark of meritless thuggery."
