I consider sleeping a hobby.
Some people like to do it more than other and some don't like it all.
Me.
There are sooo many other exciting things I could be doing or learning. Sleep is at the bottom of the list of things that I want to do in my life.
Statistically, people will sleep one-third of their life away. I really would like 20-40 years extra to life the way I choose.
But, I guess science (and my body) says I have to...
For now...
~ Simply Advanced ~
ps - For now, I guess I could also just call it "meditating all night". It is possible to figure out problems and solutions when lying on a bed.
Showing posts with label things. Show all posts
Showing posts with label things. Show all posts
2013-09-05
2013-07-17
Things People Should Know: Parkinson's Law Of Triviality
(For people that have to work in groups or have a "project manager")
Also sometimes referred to as the "Bike Shed Problem" or "bikeshedding".
This is the newest phenomenon that I have added to my great list of Things People Should Know. It is not a new concept (first mentioned in 1957) and I have known about it for awhile, but recently I have been noticing it more.
What is the Bike Shed Problem? Let me provide an example: (From Parkinson's book, as quoted in Wikipedia)
So, now that you know about Parkinson's Law Of Triviality, hopefully you will be able to better recognize when others do it and when you do it yourself. It is a natural thing to want to give input when you can, but don't let it become a hindrance to getting the most important things done.
If you know ultimately that a feature really doesn't matter, then make sure you work on the important stuff first. Also, be aware, don't always think you know better than others.
More Reading:
- Coding Horror
- Wikipedia
~ Simply Advanced ~
Also sometimes referred to as the "Bike Shed Problem" or "bikeshedding".
This is the newest phenomenon that I have added to my great list of Things People Should Know. It is not a new concept (first mentioned in 1957) and I have known about it for awhile, but recently I have been noticing it more.
What is the Bike Shed Problem? Let me provide an example: (From Parkinson's book, as quoted in Wikipedia)
In the third chapter, "High Finance, or the Point of Vanishing Interest", Parkinson writes about a finance committee meeting with a three-item agenda.
The first is the signing of a £10 million contract to build a reactor, the second a proposal to build a £350 bicycle shed for the clerical staff, and the third proposes £21 a year to supply refreshments for the Joint Welfare Committee.
The £10 million number is too big and too technical, and it passes in two minutes and a half.
The bicycle shed is a subject understood by the board, and the amount within their life experience, so committee member Mr. Softleigh says that an aluminium roof is too expensive and they should use asbestos. Mr. Holdfast wants galvanized iron. Mr. Daring questions the need for the shed at all. Mr. Holdfast disagrees.
Parkinson then writes: "The debate is fairly launched. A sum of £350 is well within everybody's comprehension. Everyone can visualize a bicycle shed. Discussion goes on, therefore, for forty-five minutes, with the possible result of saving some £50. Members at length sit back with a feeling of accomplishment."
Parkinson then described the third agenda item, writing: "There may be members of the committee who might fail to distinguish between asbestos and galvanized iron, but every man there knows about coffee – what it is, how it should be made, where it should be bought – and whether indeed it should be bought at all. This item on the agenda will occupy the members for an hour and a quarter, and they will end by asking the Secretary to procure further information, leaving the matter to be decided at the next meeting."
So, now that you know about Parkinson's Law Of Triviality, hopefully you will be able to better recognize when others do it and when you do it yourself. It is a natural thing to want to give input when you can, but don't let it become a hindrance to getting the most important things done.
If you know ultimately that a feature really doesn't matter, then make sure you work on the important stuff first. Also, be aware, don't always think you know better than others.
More Reading:
- Coding Horror
- Wikipedia
~ Simply Advanced ~
2013-07-14
Cleanliness: Grass versus Concrete
Is laying on grass more sanitary than laying on concrete?
~ Simply Advanced ~
ps - I had another sentence that stated my conclusion, but my posts are [typically] different from other blogs. For other blogs, you can just read them and say "okay", then move on. For many of my posts, they just state a few things or a new perspective and I leave the ability to further expand the readers mind up to the reader. I know many people want quick wins, but in the long run people (IMHO) need to be able think for themselves and always be doing so.
Concrete may be easier to wash off the surface (via rain) and grass/ground may more easily absorb things on it.
Regardless, people [mostly] rather lay on random grass than lay on random concrete.
~ Simply Advanced ~
ps - I had another sentence that stated my conclusion, but my posts are [typically] different from other blogs. For other blogs, you can just read them and say "okay", then move on. For many of my posts, they just state a few things or a new perspective and I leave the ability to further expand the readers mind up to the reader. I know many people want quick wins, but in the long run people (IMHO) need to be able think for themselves and always be doing so.
2013-06-05
A Few Notes On Entrepreneuring
(The following list of notes on entrepreneuring and businesses are in no particular order. I probably could have titled this "Things to know/remember when building your business".)
Difference between a service company and a product company: The first is easily scalable.
Build something that does one thing really well.
Difference between a huge market and the right market.
Experience+knowledge >> knowledge. (Read: Experience and knowledge is much greater than just knowledge.)
"The trend is your friend" when asking for venture capital. Current trends: mobile, cloud, big data, and social.
--
Describe your service/product better. Better doesn't mean specific, it means making an impression. Ex: My service is the oracle of big data. The words you should use evolve with time and with usage by others. The best copy now should use just one of the following: comprehensive, genuine, convenient, accessible, prestigious, premier, pioneers, quality, we obsolete .
Other terms should be purposely excluded because they are either overused, not true, or sound templated: innovative, groundbreaking, fresh, leader, unique. It is tough to know which words to stay away from; you don't want to make people doubtful and put their defenses up. One tip is to keep up-to-date with everything investors, businesses, and consumers see.
I have much more to say about this, but it could take up at least two more long blog posts. Here's a small list of currently neutral descriptive words for your business: functional, effectively, revitalizes, the original. "My business is a multinational corporation" could mean that I run a website.)
--
Descriptions should appeal to each of the senses. (Copy is very important)
There are always tradeoffs. Know them.
"People who get MBAs learn how to draw timelines."
The ability to communicate effectively is your strongest asset.
When building for businesses, the ultimate goal is to either raise revenue or reduce costs.
"Engineers are not hired to create programs, they are hired to create business value."
Any more quick thoughts? What are your first thoughts? Then what are your second thoughts?
~ Simply Advanced ~
Difference between a service company and a product company: The first is easily scalable.
Build something that does one thing really well.
Difference between a huge market and the right market.
Experience+knowledge >> knowledge. (Read: Experience and knowledge is much greater than just knowledge.)
"The trend is your friend" when asking for venture capital. Current trends: mobile, cloud, big data, and social.
--
Describe your service/product better. Better doesn't mean specific, it means making an impression. Ex: My service is the oracle of big data. The words you should use evolve with time and with usage by others. The best copy now should use just one of the following: comprehensive, genuine, convenient
Other terms should be purposely excluded because they are either overused, not true, or sound templated: innovative, groundbreaking, fresh, leader, unique. It is tough to know which words to stay away from; you don't want to make people doubtful and put their defenses up. One tip is to keep up-to-date with everything investors, businesses, and consumers see.
I have much more to say about this, but it could take up at least two more long blog posts. Here's a small list of currently neutral descriptive words for your business: functional, effectively, revitalizes, the original. "My business is a multinational corporation" could mean that I run a website.)
--
Descriptions should appeal to each of the senses. (Copy is very important)
There are always tradeoffs. Know them.
"People who get MBAs learn how to draw timelines."
The ability to communicate effectively is your strongest asset.
When building for businesses, the ultimate goal is to either raise revenue or reduce costs.
"Engineers are not hired to create programs, they are hired to create business value."
Any more quick thoughts? What are your first thoughts? Then what are your second thoughts?
~ Simply Advanced ~
2013-04-03
Read to Know, Read to Comprehend
I like analyzing, including things that most others would not care about. There is a difference between reading to know and reading to comprehend.
With our busy lives, we usually just have time to skim read so that we can move on to the next thing. Reading to know is a good thing when used at the right times.
If you are "learning"/reading about a topic related to your area of business or where you want to be considered an expert in, then you must read to comprehend. Read the information and the information that it links to.
~ Simply Advanced ~
ps - I got bored halfway though this and decided to make it much shorter that what it was originally going to be.
With our busy lives, we usually just have time to skim read so that we can move on to the next thing. Reading to know is a good thing when used at the right times.
If you are "learning"/reading about a topic related to your area of business or where you want to be considered an expert in, then you must read to comprehend. Read the information and the information that it links to.
~ Simply Advanced ~
ps - I got bored halfway though this and decided to make it much shorter that what it was originally going to be.
2013-02-22
Procrastination Hack - Limit the Time Between Thinking and Doing
"Limit the time between thinking and doing." - Procrastination hack.
I'm sure I've read about this somewhere else, but I didn't find it with a quick "exact-phrase" search.
The goal is to stop putting so many items on a todo list and just do them as you think of them. One of the benefits is that you actually get stuff done rather than just thinking about it.
If you are actively participating in an activity or task, then you clear your mind of another task by writing it down. Current evolution of humans allows us to truly excel at just one task at a time. When we try to do more than one thing at a time, results are typically less than doing each of them individually.
Since I feel this needs an example.. Off the top of my head: I can juggle whilst riding a bike (multitask). But, if I were to do either of them individually, then it would be done much better.
~ Simply Advanced ~
I'm sure I've read about this somewhere else, but I didn't find it with a quick "exact-phrase" search.
The goal is to stop putting so many items on a todo list and just do them as you think of them. One of the benefits is that you actually get stuff done rather than just thinking about it.
If you are actively participating in an activity or task, then you clear your mind of another task by writing it down. Current evolution of humans allows us to truly excel at just one task at a time. When we try to do more than one thing at a time, results are typically less than doing each of them individually.
Since I feel this needs an example.. Off the top of my head: I can juggle whilst riding a bike (multitask). But, if I were to do either of them individually, then it would be done much better.
~ Simply Advanced ~
2012-12-30
Random Ideas and Thoughts - 20121230
[0] First thing, a little blurt about the number in the title. It is the date format that I'm using and liking very much to organize all of my folder and files. They are all automatically sorted in chronological order because of the name. One example, I used to label my school folders as "USF 2012 Spring" and "USF 2012 Fall" and "USF 2012 Summer." But, first of all it is not in an efficient order. And secondly, it doesn't look very neat. Within the past six months I've transitioned everything to the style of "USF201201", "", and "". It is more efficient, neater, and doesn't lose much readability if you can recognize the 2012 year in there.
..Remember, all of the following are fragmented thoughts, random, and does not have a reason... completely unlike what I try to accomplish above with the year-month-day format. =b
[1] A rollercoaster ride that feels like it is broken (and may fall at any moment). When there is a real problem with the ride (how would they know?), the ride tells the potential riders that workers must break the ride more before riders can ride again.
[2] Full theme park that is purposely seemingly empty. Some park goers are actors/hires (theme park goers would never know about this part). Couples may want to team up randomly in the park with others so that they are not totally alone, but that might just be their mistake.
[3] What birds are poisonous? [I was playing a quiz game and was the first to know that platypus was poisonous. The question was something like, "Which of the following is poisonous?" Egret was one of the answers, then this thought occurred]
[4] Are there fish ball/cages like there are hamster balls/cages? Maybe the fish can learn to travel by shifting their weight?
[5] "I cried because I had no shoes, until I saw a man with no feet." [A quote I saw in a book. A good thought provoker]
[6] Hobby: Making lists with only one item. ["Hobby:" - kind of like xkcd style]
[7] App for how long you have been away from Facebook and/or Gmail. [There should be a high scores list also (and the ability to share with friends?)]
[8] Dubstep without echo is kinda like classical music. And vise-versa.
[9] Write a book called, "Dan Writes a Book"
[10] Redit for Research Papers. Thumb up and thumb down. [I believe there are social medias revolving around research..]
[11] Proxy for Twitter API calls. Twitter limits the number of calls a day from an IP, but if you keep switching the IPs when they fail, then you have have a whole lot more available API calls. This service can be made into an API.
[12] Web App: Display the bibliography for every page of the internet. Choose type from a dropdown menu. (20121201)
[13] Cloth that you can put on when you are wet, and stay dry and warm without worrying about the inside of cloth getting/staying wet.
Feel free to comment, email me, make use of these ideas (let me know how it goes), or brainstorm other things from these. Please try not to draw conclusions from this post, it is purely a thinking exercise, half of it unconsciously thought of. Words in square brackets, [], are what I added at the time of writing.
~ Simply Advanced ~
ps - Doing this also allows me to clear out much of my ideas folder, thus, forcing me to come up with new awesome random things. The several ideas I didn't share are ideas are ones that I have for a thesis/paper that I'm currently working on. They will be shared in a year or few.
..Remember, all of the following are fragmented thoughts, random, and does not have a reason... completely unlike what I try to accomplish above with the year-month-day format. =b
[1] A rollercoaster ride that feels like it is broken (and may fall at any moment). When there is a real problem with the ride (how would they know?), the ride tells the potential riders that workers must break the ride more before riders can ride again.
[2] Full theme park that is purposely seemingly empty. Some park goers are actors/hires (theme park goers would never know about this part). Couples may want to team up randomly in the park with others so that they are not totally alone, but that might just be their mistake.
[3] What birds are poisonous? [I was playing a quiz game and was the first to know that platypus was poisonous. The question was something like, "Which of the following is poisonous?" Egret was one of the answers, then this thought occurred]
[4] Are there fish ball/cages like there are hamster balls/cages? Maybe the fish can learn to travel by shifting their weight?
[5] "I cried because I had no shoes, until I saw a man with no feet." [A quote I saw in a book. A good thought provoker]
[6] Hobby: Making lists with only one item. ["Hobby:" - kind of like xkcd style]
[7] App for how long you have been away from Facebook and/or Gmail. [There should be a high scores list also (and the ability to share with friends?)]
[8] Dubstep without echo is kinda like classical music. And vise-versa.
[9] Write a book called, "Dan Writes a Book"
[10] Redit for Research Papers. Thumb up and thumb down. [I believe there are social medias revolving around research..]
[11] Proxy for Twitter API calls. Twitter limits the number of calls a day from an IP, but if you keep switching the IPs when they fail, then you have have a whole lot more available API calls. This service can be made into an API.
[12] Web App: Display the bibliography for every page of the internet. Choose type from a dropdown menu. (20121201)
[13] Cloth that you can put on when you are wet, and stay dry and warm without worrying about the inside of cloth getting/staying wet.
[14] Moving shade. Ex: when sunbathing and you want to keep the sun out of your eyes only. [But, not touching you, I guess?]
[15] Clothes that don't turn inside out in the wash. A temporary solution would be to either stitch the main (large) opening clothes, or by just using a pin to keep it closed, that way the smaller parts of the clothes won't be able to go through and turn the entire cloth inside out.
[16] App using Windows live tiles: Simply Advanced Countdown Tile. Days until whenever.. Or weeks until whenever.. Or years until whenever.. Ability to add picture relating to event like birthday, holiday, anniversary..
[17] App for Windows 8: A piano lock screen. Play a song to unlock the screen. Future version (or paid version) would include different instruments.
[18] App: Top-down, zoomed out game. In order for your avatar to get from one town to another, the user must actually go on a physical run or walk for a certain distance to get there. Start off with small distances, gradually get longer for more advanced areas of the game.
[19] App: What if you could see/visualize smells, smell colors/sounds app. Hearing colors is possible to do now... Synesthesia. [Slogan: "Synesthesia, now available on your smartphone!" Introduce it during Synesthesia Awareness Month?]
[20] Going to do dishes in the sink? Then get energy back from the water you use! Same for shower heads, or any other place that you run water. Perhaps the base of a hose line?
~ Simply Advanced ~
ps - Doing this also allows me to clear out much of my ideas folder, thus, forcing me to come up with new awesome random things. The several ideas I didn't share are ideas are ones that I have for a thesis/paper that I'm currently working on. They will be shared in a year or few.
2012-11-05
Not Not Not
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