CIUDAD VICTORIA, Mexico (Reuters) – Two car bombs exploded in northern Mexico early on Friday, days after marines found the bodies of 72 people gunned down in the country’s escalating war with powerful drug cartels.
Twitter: 2010-08-28
- Amateur NC ghost hunter looking for ‘ghost train’ hit and killed by real train http://goo.gl/0TaL #
- “Bonus?! I thought we were all going to get *boners*.” — Disappointed office worker #
- RT @capricecrane: They say “don’t cut off your nose to spite your face” yet they don’t offer an alternative way to spite your face. #
Twitter: 2010-08-27
- Worth a read: the Paradoxical Commandments of Leadership – Good Experience http://goo.gl/yitU #
- RT @Jesus_M_Christ: It’s true, my Dad does talk to Glenn Beck, but only to tell him to shut the hell up. #
The Important Problems of Your Field
Over on the other side of the dining hall was a chemistry table. I had worked with one of the fellows, Dave McCall . . . I went over and said, “Do you mind if I join you?” They can’t say no, so I started eating with them for a while. And I started asking, “What are the important problems of your field?” And after a week or so, “What important problems are you working on?” And after some more time I came in one day and said, “If what you are doing is not important, and if you don’t think it is going to lead to something important, why are you at Bell Labs working on it?” I wasn’t welcomed after that; I had to find somebody else to eat with! That was in the spring.
In the fall, Dave McCall stopped me in the hall and said, “Hamming, that remark of yours got underneath my skin. I thought about it all summer, i.e. what were the important problems in my field. I haven’t changed my research,” he says, “but I think it was well worthwhile.” And I said, “Thank you Dave,” and went on. I noticed a couple of months later he was made the head of the department. I noticed the other day he was a Member of the National Academy of Engineering. I noticed he has succeeded. I have never heard the names of any of the other fellows at that table mentioned in science and scientific circles. They were unable to ask themselves, “What are the important problems in my field?”
Playing With Pain
My son comes home from playing basketball at L.A. Fitness with what looks like blood all over his white T-shirt.
“Is that blood on your shirt?” I ask him.
“Yeah. A guy followed through on his shot and smacked me in the face.”
“So your nose was bleeding?”
“Yeah. I wiped it on my shirt.”
“That’s awesome.”
“I know. It’s sick.”
Overheard
Twitter: 2010-08-26
- RT @eddiepepitone: Prophets of doom make 13 dollars an hour, life coaches 35 an hour. So who’s full of shit now? #
- RT @thesulk: “Who’s that actor?” “I don’t know, and I may never know.” (Watching TV Before the Internet) #
- RT @capricecrane: “Heidi Montag Wants Huge Breast Implants OUT.” She’s getting good at cutting giant boobs out of her life. #
Related Articles
- Heidi Montag Regrets Breast Implants (mtv.com)
Double Dippin’
If He’s Lost Letterman, He’s Lost America
At a time when painful unemployment numbers continue to bear down on the tattered economy, many are frustrated that the nation’s leader is enjoying another luxurious trip. On CBS’ “The Late Show” Tuesday night, David Letterman took a jab at the president, saying: “He’ll have plenty of time for vacations after his one term is up.”
Living in Beverly Hills
LOS ANGELES — Donald Bren’s two out-of-wedlock children testified Monday in the fraud case they brought against their billionaire father that they didn’t lack any material things growing up in Beverly Hills, but that his absence in their lives made them feel angry, hurt and abandoned.
Hey kids, that feeling — is called “life.”
You Have to Neglect Things
Given two people with exactly the same ability, the one person who manages day in and day out to get in one more hour of thinking will be tremendously more productive over a lifetime. . . . I spent a good deal more of my time for some years trying to work a bit harder and I found, in fact, I could get more work done. I don’t like to say it in front of my wife, but I did sort of neglect her sometimes; I needed to study. You have to neglect things if you intend to get what you want done. There’s no question about this.
Related Articles
- Did Mozart Play Kickball (eppsnet.com)
- 10,000 Hours + Courage == Greatness (podly.tv)
Twitter: 2010-08-24
- RT @Jesus_M_Christ: How do I know Adam and Eve were white? When’s the last time you seen a black man give up a rib? #
- RT @eddiepepitone: Tweets of Nietzche’s wife- God isn’t as dead as our sex life! #
- RT @pattonoswalt: In the future, everyone will be obscure for fifteen minutes. #
I Would Like to Do First-Class Work
I have to get you to drop modesty and say to yourself, “Yes, I would like to do first-class work.” Our society frowns on people who set out to do really good work. You’re not supposed to; luck is supposed to descend on you and you do great things by chance. Well, that’s a kind of dumb thing to say. I say, why shouldn’t you set out to do something significant. You don’t have to tell other people, but shouldn’t you say to yourself, “Yes, I would like to do something significant.”
Hostage Standoffs: Another Reason I Prefer to Just Stay Home
MANILA, Philippines — Commandos shot and killed a former policeman who was holding 15 tourists hostage aboard a bus in downtown Manila on Monday, authorities said.
Six of the hostages were killed, hospital officials said.
Pug Photos on Flickr
Originally uploaded by the.wizzler
Originally uploaded by smeado
Originally uploaded by lauren_louise
Originally uploaded by wombatarama
Originally uploaded by ACC__1
What I’d Really Like, Dad, is to Borrow the Car Keys
My son walks into my room and says, “Dad, where are your car keys?”
“Where are you going?” I ask.
“Gym,” he says, and starts to walk out of the room again.
“Wait a minute. Where are you going?”
“To the gym.”
“I got that, but you asked me a question and you’re walking out of the room before I answered it.”
“I thought you could give me the answer as I was walking away.”
“Well, I can’t because the keys are in my pocket.”
“Oh,” he says.
“See, that’s what threw me off,” I say, “is I’ve got the keys right here and you’re walking in the other direction.”
“I don’t have time to stand around,” he says.
“You don’t? Well, I don’t have time to figure out other people’s mystifying behavior.”
I Have No Fears
Except aging, death, poverty, diminished capacity, criticism, loss of love and ill health.
Twitter: 2010-08-21
- RT @capricecrane: “Spencer Pratt Writing Tell-All About Ex Heidi Montag.” Chapter One: She marries a douchebag. #
- RT @TheOnion: Obama To Create 17 New Jobs By Resigning And Finally Opening That Restaurant http://onion.com/a0V23H #
Related articles
Twitter: 2010-08-18
- My Twifficiency score is 36%. Whats yours? http://twifficiency.com/ #
Overheard at the Office
