I read this today on an actual résumé:
- Superior written and communication skills and detail to attention
Don’t do that.
Want a Date? Consider Becoming an Atheist
OkCupid.com analyzed over 500,000 first contacts on their online dating site to see how certain keywords and phrases affected reply rates. The results could be considered a set of rules for what you should and shouldn’t say when introducing yourself online.
Thinking of mentioning religion? The graph below shows reply rates of messages containing the listed keywords, plotted against the average reply rate of 32%.
Obama in China
Obama’s strongest comments during the town hall were directed at China’s Internet controls.
“I’m a big supporter of non-censorship,” Obama said. . . .
Chinese bloggers who saw it were grateful that he addressed censorship, but many zeroed in on what they considered Obama’s waffling language.
“Learn English from Obama: Instead of saying ‘I want to eat,’ say ‘I am a big supporter of non-hunger,'” Wang Pei, a writer based in eastern China’s Hangzhou, twittered on Tuesday.
Suck it Up, Liver Cancer Patients!
When the government runs healthcare . . .
Liver cancer sufferers are being condemned to an early death by being denied a new drug on the Health Service, campaigners warn. They criticised draft guidance that will effectively ban the drug sorafenib — which is routinely used in every other country where it is licensed. Trials show the drug, which costs £36,000 [$60,000] a year, can increase survival by around six months for patients who have run out of options.
The Government’s rationing body, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) said the overall cost was “simply too high” to justify the “benefit to patients.”
Your Face is Your Fortune
OkCupid’s analysis of how your looks affect your online dating results is chock full of interesting insights. The one that really jumped out at me is that while men’s rating of women’s looks follows a normal distribution — some low, some high, most in the middle — women rate 80% of men as worse-looking than average, but then go ahead and date them anyway.
Diversity in Practice
This is how “diversity” works in practice: Intellectual contention is drowned out in a sea of emotion, much of it phony. Members of designated victim groups respond to a serious argument with “pain” and “shock” and accusations of “hate,” and university administrators make a show of pretending to care.
Twitter: 2009-11-19
- Your Looks and Your Inbox « OkCupid http://okcupid.com/z/bf2 #
- RT @TelegraphNews Women 'should bare 40 per cent of their bodies to attract men' http://bit.ly/RGtkn #
How to Deal With a Bully
A friend’s Facebook post about bullies in school reminded me of when I was 10 or 11 and the neighborhood bully was menacing a junior high band nerd. All of a sudden, the band nerd hauled off and socked him right in the face and the bully ran home crying.
What an impression that made on me! Of course I’m not advocating socking bullies in the face . . . no wait, I guess I am . . .
Homework Follies
Worked some physics problems with my boy last night . . . the subject at hand was torque, which his textbook expresses in units of mN.
“Back in my day, we used to measure torque in foot-pounds,” I said. “What’s mN? Millinewtons?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “I guess so.”
“OK, we’re off to a great start!”
Bad Timing
A co-worker walks into the break room just as I clumsily drop something on the floor. That’s embarrassing.
“Next time, try to walk in right when I do something good,” I say. “Okay,” she says.
Snakes on a Plane
According to The Book of Odds:
- The odds an adult is afraid of flying are 1 in 5.56.
- The odds an adult is afraid of snakes are 1 in 1.96.
Twitter: 2009-11-13
- Notes on Strategy from the Harvard Business School: http://bit.ly/1jTVWO #
- The fastest way to improve your interface is to improve your copy-writing. With examples: http://bit.ly/daUqF #
Twitter: 2009-11-12
- RT @mashable Bill Gates’ Plan for Fixing the World http://bit.ly/4ABw03 #
- RT @SarahKSilverman: Sometimes when I'm by myself I say out loud, "BarTHelona" & giggle at that lispy accent they have. ah shit, I have fun. #
- RT @capricecrane: They say a lie gets around the world before the truth gets its pants on. Why the truth is pantsless, no one ever says. #
- User Story Mapping: modeling user stories for effective understanding of your system and planning incremental releases: http://bit.ly/1LQ17h #
- If my office gets one degree colder I'm going home… #
The Path of Trojan Dominance
Steven B. Sample, president of the University of Southern California since 1991, announced on Nov. 2 that he will retire in August 2010.
Sample is widely credited with bringing about an institutional rise at USC that is unparalleled in American higher education.
I’m so proud of what USC’s been able to accomplish academically under the leadership of Dr. Sample. When I went to USC in the pre-Sample era, the conventional wisdom in Southern California was that the rich kids went to USC and the smart kids went to UCLA.
(No one in my immediate family is or ever has been rich. I was able to attend USC on an academic scholarship, although it must be admitted that my wife and I both have rich but not overly bright cousins who also graduated as Trojans.)
Since 1991 though, SAT scores at USC have gone up more than 300 points. They passed up UCLA years ago and the gap continues to widen, much to the chagrin of Bruin alums.
So the way it works now is that the rich kids and the smart kids go to USC, and if you don’t fall into either one of those categories, you might be UCLA material.
Thank you, Steven B. Sample!
FIGHT ON!!!
Jerry Weinberg
Jerry Weinberg has been for almost 50 years the leader in considering software engineering not just as a technical practice but as a human activity. I’ve read seven of his books and with the exception of people I’ve actually worked with, I’ve learned more about IT from Jerry than from any other person.
He’s recently been diagnosed with what doctors say is a fatal illness. He has a CaringBridge site where he can read messages.
Twitter: 2009-11-11
- RT @MOCAlosangeles: MOCA ? YOU! Complimentary Museum Admission | SUNDAY, NOV 15–FRIDAY, NOV 20 | more info at http://bit.ly/46urQb #
- If Jimmy cracks corn, and no one cares, why does he keep doing it? #
- No hell, no dignity, no hope. Have a great day! #
- My wife's in LA at the Thai markets. She'll bring back those little coconut pancakes. I love coconut pancakes! #
I Got an A on My Report Card
Twitter: 2009-11-10
- Google helps you find a flu shot http://bit.ly/2XnKq2 #
Twitter: 2009-11-07
- RT @tweetmeme LinkedIn Is Getting a Redesign [Pics] http://bit.ly/4dJ20I #
Disliking on Facebook
I say to my son, “Now there’s a Firefox plugin so you can dislike stuff on Facebook. I disliked three things already.”
“Cool,” he says, walking out of the room. “I gotta get that right now.”
He comes back in with his laptop. “First I’ve got to download Firefox,” he says.
“You’re downloading Firefox just so you can dislike stuff on Facebook?”
“That’s right.”