One of the notable aspects of the democratic process is that one need not know anything about a subject in order to pass laws about it. – Col. Jeff Cooper
From Cooper’s Commentaries, Vol 11, No. 4 April 2003
Notably…
Quotations
Quote for today
Nobody is more concerned about your personal safety than you. And if you think it’s someone else’s responsibility, you’re in for some traumatically bad news
on instructors
You need an instructor not to instruct, but to guide you on the journey of discovery.
– Gabe Suarez
towards perfection
These days a lot of people see me as a finicky and nit-picking type of person. It’s because when I look at software, I look at it through this ambitious, striving for perfection type of lens that I picked up from Apple. And I hasten to add that I don’t think my products are by any means perfect. It’s the thing about perfection. It’s really hard, probably impossible. But what Apple does is strive for it anyway, even if it’s impossible. I came to respect that attitude very much, to the point that I can no longer relate to people who don’t share that view.
– Daniel Jalkut (emphasis added)
I accept the trade-offs that come in life, and especially in software development. I mean, sometimes you gotta ship if you want to keep the lights on so you can keep working towards that perfection. Besides, rarely do we achieve perfection right out of the box; usually it requires a lot of time, trials, iterations, failures, and effort.
I just don’t like it when people take satisfaction in shoddy, or accept “half-assed” as “good enough”.
Quote for today
Any movement that uses cues ‘head up’ and ‘chest up’ is providing more positive reinforcement in ONE workout than most people get in a month. – Dave Tate, on squatting
You don’t realize how much heavy squats build character (more so than muscle) until you do them for a while.
I still don’t like squats, but I don’t dislike them so much any more.
Quote for today – Certifications
With certifications, we’re confusing education with expertise. There’s a difference between a NASCAR driver and a kid who just passed his driver’s-ed class. And certifications are on the driver’s-ed side of things.
All certifications show is basic competence that you won’t hurt someone. It doesn’t make you an expert. It just shows that you’re not an idiot.
Some people think that certifications are worthless. Yes, probably, but it’s hard to not pick them up on the way to becoming good. If you told me that you did martial arts for 30 years and you’re not a black belt, that’s kind of odd, right? You haven’t picked up any sort of third-party recognition of your ability.
Let’s say you come to me for a job and you’ve never had a certification in your life. It doesn’t look impressive. I would expect somebody who’s good to pick them up.
So I don’t put any faith in them at all, but I’ve learned something with every class I’ve been to and every book I’ve read. You’re not going to become dumber by going in and taking another class. You might learn one thing. So if you’re a professional and you’re trying to get better, you’re going to pick these things up. But in absolutely no way, shape, or form does a certification equal expertise.
While Mr. Cosgrove was talking about fitness certifications, it really doesn’t matter what field it’s in: fitness, martial arts, handguns, computers, any field you’re in can and will have certifications.
You just have to remember it only means so much.
Realities: F=ma
There’s just some realities of the world that political correctness and good intentions cannot overcome. “F = ma” is one of them.
In response to my “Little woman vs. big man“, Chuck Rives commented “Good stuff. There’s a reason why even UFC adopted weight classes.”. The above was my response to him, and I think the notion is one that too many people forget.
Quote for today
To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.
– Voltaire
Qualifications
There is something seriously wrong when the only people who are deemed qualified to educate peoople about violence are those who have either never experienced it or aggrandize themselves for having been a victim.
Quote for the day
Everything you ‘know’ about guns you learned from Hollywood, which is in the business of making shit up!
– Jamin Kortegard
Stuff From Hsoi 