“chance only favors the mind which is prepared.”

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-01405-7
Science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov is widely credited with saying that “the most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not ‘Eureka!’ but ‘That’s funny’.”

 

Typing was one of my favorite classes in middle school.

I didn’t even learn to type until I was 40, I chicken pecked when looking up parts or stuff till then.

At least 30 wpm good enough for me.

kv

 

In memory of all the people that were lost that day, and all the heroes whose time had come to shine:

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Frank Sinatra was a fervent anti-racist and an early activist during the civil rights movement. He refused to stay at hotels and play at clubs that did not admit Black people. His band would also provide equal pay and treatment for Black musicians. It was through his relentless and tireless efforts that Las Vegas quickly became integrated. In an interview in 2016, Frank Sinatra, Jr. had this to say about his father: “In the days when Las Vegas began to become popular, the Black performers could play in showrooms, but they couldn't stay in the hotel. And it was Frank Sinatra who went to the board of directors, who had rather shady pasts, and he said, 'Are you guys going to come into the twentieth century, or aren't you?'... Somebody said 'Well, we have white people, we have Black people." Sinatra, the story goes, said to them, "The money is green. How about that?" And they began to look at each other and the wheels were turning, and because of Sammy [Davis], Las Vegas became integrated.” Sinatra was also a big-time supporter of Martin Luther King and helped him raise money to support the Civil Rights Movement by headlining fundraisers. In 1958, he wrote in Ebony Magazine: “A friend to me has no race, no class and belongs to no minority. My friendships are formed out of affection, mutual respect and a feeling of having something in common. These are eternal values that cannot be classified.”

 

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In my part of Texas, while in elementary school, most Italians where not considered to be white.

 

If people's skin were suddenly to turn the same hue, then we'd start discriminating on the basis of eye color, or arguing the superiority of blondes over brunettes ... maybe redheads would still be considered as leaning towards witchcraft, though ...

My point is, discrimination is part of human nature. It's our anthropological need to feel that one is a part of a tribe that drives us. No matter how irrational and destructive to our species in general said need might be.

When I was a kid, I used to fantasize about how much more civilized and brotherly the 21st century would be. I couldn't wait for the year 2000 to arrive, then everything would change for the better ... God, I miss my happy, naïve and innocent childhood.

 

If people's skin were suddenly to turn the same hue, then we'd start discriminating on the basis of eye color, or arguing the superiority of blondes over brunettes ... maybe redheads would still be considered as leaning towards witchcraft, though ...

My point is, discrimination is part of human nature. It's our anthropological need to feel that one is a part of a tribe that drives us. No matter how irrational and destructive to our species in general said need might be.

When I was a kid, I used to fantasize about how much more civilized and brotherly the 21st century would be. I couldn't wait for the year 2000 to arrive, then everything would change for the better ... God, I miss my happy, naïve and innocent childhood.

Sort of the way that in Japan, Okinawan's are sometimes looked down as not being 'real' Japanese in the Japanese mainland.
https://huoa.org/hawaii-okinawa-center/

 

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/09/music-industrys-1990s-hard-drives-like-all-hdds-are-dying/
Music industry’s 1990s hard drives, like all HDDs, are dying

Knowing that hard drives will eventually fail is nothing new. Ars wrote about the five stages of hard drive death, including denial, back in 2005. Last year, backup company Backblaze shared failure data on specific drives, showing that drives that fail tend to fail within three years, that no drive was totally exempt, and that time does, generally, wear down all drives. Google's server drive data showed in 2007 that HDD failure was mostly unpredictable, and that temperatures were not really the deciding factor.

 

 

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-02956-8
Why do we crumble under pressure?

 

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The importance of stupidity in scientific research

https://web.stanford.edu/~fukamit/schwartz-2008.pdf
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Productive stupidity means being ignorant by choice. Focusing on important questions puts us in the awkward position of being ignorant.

 

My thought for the day...

It's scary how many people post on this site asking for help designing medical devices.

 

My thought for the day...

It's scary how many people post on this site asking for help designing medical devices.

The most successful people I've met were never held back by what they didn't know.

 

That's not my point.

 

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