The most common reason for software project failure is attributed to requirements issues – badly defined, not stated correctly, changing requirements, etc. — “Tips for Discovering Requirements” Any project I’ve done that lasted longer than a day had changing requirements. If your development strategy only works with an unchanging set of requirements, you need to rethink your approach . . . Read more →
Trash by Any Other Name
Sometimes it’s hard to tell if boxes, etc., sitting around the office are supposed to go out with the trash. In Southern California, you’ll often see BASURA written on these things because the probability that a Spanish-speaking person will be taking out the trash is high. We couldn’t seem to get this box removed by writing BASURA on it, so one of our tech support people came up with this sign . . . Read more →
I Have a Dream About Bananas
“Look at the color of this banana,” my son says as he takes it out of the refrigerator. “It’s black.” “I think it’s still okay,” I tell him. “It’s not the color of the skin that’s important . . .” ” . . . it’s the content of its character,” he jumps in. Read more →
Overheard
Be careful what you wish for . . . Read more →
The Competition: A Sonnet
“Get off,” my wife says — but the pug Just looks at her and doesn’t move. He’s lying in his favorite spot Beside his master on the couch. “Off,” she says — the dog just stares; He could win a test of wills But when she moves to pick him up He concedes defeat and jumps. “I want to sit there,” she explains. He looks at her, he looks at me Then jumps up from the other side, Lying down across my lap Sideways, facing down his foe As if to say “Your move.” Read more →
Changes of Life
My wife asks our son, “Why do you have to argue about everything?” “I’m stubborn,” he says. “It’s all part of puberty.” “Well, I’m getting old,” she says, “and part of that is I’m not going to put up with a lot of nonsense.” Read more →
People I Thought Were Dead
Charlie Callas – comedian Robert Clary – actor, “Hogan’s Heroes” Mike Connors – actor, “Mannix” Jackie Cooper – actor Ann B. Davis – actress, “The Brady Bunch” Joan Fontaine – actress Shecky Greene – comedian Ray Harryhausen – film producer, “Jason and the Argonauts” Tom Kennedy – game show host Gina Lollobrigida – actress Peter Marshall – game show host, “The Hollywood Squares” Jack Narz – game show host Joyce Randolph – actress, “The Honeymooners” Ravi Shankar – sitar player Gale Storm – actress Mort Walker – cartoonist, “Beetle Bailey” Updates Charlie Callas – died 1/27/2011, age 83 Robert Clary – died 11/16/2022, age 96 Mike Connors – died 1/26/2017, age 91 Jackie Cooper – died 5/3/2011, age 88 Ann B. Davis – died 6/1/2014, age 88 Joan Fontaine – died 12/15/2013, age 96 Shecky Greene – died 12/31/2023, age 97 Ray Harryhausen – died 5/7/2013, age 92 Tom Kennedy… Read more →
Wives of Spanking Husbands Club
From the front page of the Los Angeles Times 70 years ago today, Jan. 26, 1938: Wives of Spanking Husbands Form Girls’ Auxiliary to Club SIOUX FALLS (S. D.) Jan. 25 (AP) — Wives of Spanking Husbands’ Club, organized in Sioux City, Iowa, and parent organization of fifty-nine such clubs throughout the nation according to its own figures–reached out for another slice of territory today. The Iowa housewives who consider it a mark of esteem for their husbands to wield a disciplinary hairbrush once in a while, announced plans today for a junior auxiliary–Daughters of Spanking Parents. ELIGIBLE GIRLS A letter received here from Sioux City and signed “Rita Rae, general delivery,” told of plans for the new organization for which she claimed an initial membership of seventeen. Any girl above the age of 11 years is eligible to join, Mrs. Rae wrote. “We think all parents should spank their… Read more →
Don’t Waste Your 15 Minutes of Fame
[Heath] Ledger’s ex-fiancée Michelle Williams and their two year old daughter Matilda flew from a film set in Sweden to their home in Brooklyn following the tragedy. . . . Her father Larry Williams said: “It has just broken everybody’s heart in my family. I think Tennyson got it right in the poem he described someone as having died at a young age but burning the candles at both ends. And oh what a beautiful flame he made. That was Heath. “The saddest thing is his daughter whom he just loved dearly. The Tennyson poem is just so true. His years were few but he left a beautiful legacy.” — Daily Mail Okay . . . Tennyson?! Tennyson did write In Memoriam A.H.H. about a friend who died young, but the candle poem was written by Edna St. Vincent Millay: My candle burns at both ends; It will not last… Read more →
Can You Die Too Soon?
Some media outlets are using the occasion of Heath Ledger‘s demise to publish lists of stars who died “too soon.” Does anyone really die too soon? Maybe everyone dies at exactly the right time. Maybe some people die too late. [James] Dean died before he could fail, before he lost his hair or his boyish figure, before he grew up. — Donald Spoto, Rebel: The Life and Legend of James Dean James Dean died at age 24. Did he die too soon? Would he have been remembered as fondly if he’d lived to an old age? Better to be a delicious fruit snatched away in mid-bite than something one finds in the back of the refrigerator and says, “My god, we should have thrown this out a long time ago.” It’s never a bad career move to check out in your prime . . . Read more →
79 More
In memory of Heath Ledger, here’s a list of 79 more stars killed by drugs . . . Read more →
Fruit Pickers
“Look at those guys,” my son says. “They’re all wearing ponchos and it’s not even raining.” “Well, it was raining,” I say, “and it may rain again. There’s an old saying in the fruit picking business: It’s better to have a poncho and not need it than to need a poncho and not have it. Think about it.” “Why do I need to think about it?” “Because it didn’t seem to make much of an impact on you. Want me to say it again?” “No.” Read more →
Word of the Day
“Timelinewise” — as in “Where are we at, timelinewise?” Read more →
Heath Ledger, 1979-2008
NEW YORK — Actor Heath Ledger was found dead Tuesday of a possible drug overdose in a Lower Manhattan apartment, the New York Police Department said. — CNN.com Possible drug overdose, possible suicide! Oh dear . . . another blow to the theory that being rich and/or famous is the ticket to happiness. I think most famous actors — not all, obviously — are convinced that they can do things that nobody else can do, that they’re not cardboard people who are adored for no reason. Tom Cruise, for example, I don’t think will ever commit suicide. Oh well . . . Read more →
Another Difference Between Dogs and Cats
Originally uploaded by Somerslea. One of my co-workers keeps calling another co-worker Misty, although her name is actually Mitzi. “I’m sorry,” she explains. “Misty is my roommate’s cat and I mix up the names in my mind.” “Do you ever call the cat Mitzi?” I ask. “Sometimes, but not as often as I call Mitzi Misty.” “Does the cat respond when you call her Mitzi?” “No, but she doesn’t respond when I call her Misty either.” Read more →
Bobby Fischer, 1943-2008
Americans like a winner. If you lose, you’re nothing. I’m going to win, though. It’s good for the match that Spassky has a plus score against me. We’ve met five times. He’s won three times and we’ve drawn twice. But I’m a stronger player and a long match favors me. — Bobby Fischer Bobby Fischer died last week in Reykjavik, Iceland, the site of his greatest triumph — the 1972 World Chess Championship. He was 64 years old, one year for each square on a chessboard. For the first half of his life, his brilliance as a chess player mostly outweighed his irrational judgment and paranoia. For the second half of his life, it was the other way around. In the middle of the Cold War, he beat the Soviets at their own game. He became as famous as a rock star while playing a game that absolutely no one… Read more →
I’ve Been in a Room
I’ve never been lonely. I’ve been in a room — I’ve felt suicidal. I’ve been depressed. I’ve felt awful — awful beyond all — but I’ve never felt that one other person could enter that room and cure what was bothering me . . . or that any number of people could. . . . — Charles Bukowski Read more →
Aren’t Cell Phones Great?
Now not only can I call home and get no answer, I can call my wife’s cell phone and get no answer and call my kid’s cell phone and get no answer . . . Read more →
James Bach on Software Testing
Jerry Weinberg has suggested that “it works” may mean “We haven’t tried very hard to make it fail, and we haven’t been running it very long or under very diverse conditions, but so far we haven’t seen any failures, though we haven’t been looking too closely, either.” In this pessimistic view, you have to be on guard for people who say it works without checking even once to see if it could work. “No user would do that” really means “No user I can think of, who I like, would do that on purpose.” Who aren’t you thinking of? Who don’t you like who might really use this product? What might good users do by accident? In general it can vastly simplify testing if we focus on whether the product has a problem that matters, rather than whether the product merely satisfies all relevant standards. . . .… Read more →
Cat and Dog (Not Cat or Dog) Photos
Originally uploaded by wendyophoto. Found a cute photo pool on Flickr: Cat and Dog : not Cat or Dog, please read the guidelines! Read more →