Done yesterday (20100629 Tu)

( raw notes )

Another mostly nondescript day at work, with no walk and lunch at Indian buffet Bombay Oven. I did make a sensible suggestion, which surprised the youngsters I'm working with. (I just remembered what it was; can't say much except that it was an observation about something that didn't have to be done, which greatly simplified the way documents get stored.) $BOSS's comment: "maybe we should keep him around."

Several good links under the cut, but the main one is The Anosognosic’s Dilemma: Something’s Wrong but You’ll Never Know What It Is, a five-part blog series on nytimes.com. The money quote is:

What It Is (Part 1) - Opinionator Blog - NYTimes.com If I were given carte blanche to write about any topic I could, it would be about how much our ignorance, in general, shapes our lives in ways we do not know about. Put simply, people tend to do what they know and fail to do that which they have no conception of. In that way, ignorance profoundly channels the course we take in life. And unknown unknowns constitute a grand swath of everybody’s field of ignorance.

This has a lot to say about a subject that's been on my mind recently since it came up in conversation over the weekend: my different awareness of my own competence and ability in the areas of programming and people.

Hippo, birdie, two ewes...

... to kendaer!!!! Have a great one!!!

A bit of pre-nostalgia

The research lab that spawned our product-development group is interviewing for a new lab director; I'm missing some fascinating talks. It struck me this morning that, if I decided to go back and reclaim my old job in research, I'd find the place changed almost beyond recognition. It doesn't even have the same name anymore.

Maybe I'm just getting old.