Tinker, Tailor

When I was reading a book on Chinese grammar, I got a number of responses from those who know me.

Some would simply shake their heads, sigh, and walk away. Yet another weird book he’s reading, they must be thinking.

Others would ask, “Chinese got grammar meh?”

“Every language has grammar,” I would reply, “even Singlish has grammar!”

And a few would ask, “you mean you need to learn this?”

Of which I would reply, “those of us who’ve known Chinese since young already know the grammar intrinsically, but would you know how to explain it, say, to an angmoh friend who’s trying to learn Chinese? I doubt.”

To the last 2 groups, I often like to ask them this:

“How do you say ‘that person is very tall’ in Mandarin?”

“那个人很高” would be their typical reply.

“Ok. Then how do you say ‘that person is tall’?”

Pause.

“Ermmm… ‘那个人高’? No…”

“You see,” I explain slightly condescendingly, “we can say ‘那个人很高’ but we can’t say ‘那个人高’. Why? This is Chinese grammar.”

They get it.

* * * * *

In case you’re still wondering how to translate “that person is tall”, I’d probably translate it “那个人长的高” (”that person has grown tall”). There seems to be no straightforward way of translating it.

The grammar book I was reading says that “that person is tall” should be “那个人很高”, and “that person is very tall” is “那个人非常高”. I would disagree with this in the Singapore context, since I would understand “那个人非常高” to be closer to “that person is extremely tall”.

But hey, I was never a good student of the Chinese language, so take my views with some crystals of salt.

In their post Social Software Critic,
Many-to-Many takes a brief look at some social software that have appeared on the scene recently, including Ning, Flock, Wink, Memeorandum, Sphere, and Rollyo.

Time to catch up with technology.

Blogsavvy has reviews of multi-user blogging tools including Drupal, Elgg, Manila, Movable Type, WordPress MultiUser and pLog.

I’ve been waiting for such a review forever.

Via soulsoup.

Ynetnews.com has an exclusive video of the Temple Mount.

A unique video filmed by an Israeli who was able to sneak a camcorder into Temple Mount in recent weeks provides rare images of the holy shrine, where Jews are banned from entering.

This is cool stuff.

Presentation Zen has some useful presentation tips in Make your next presentation naked.

But first, some clarification on being naked:

Being naked involves stripping away all that is unnecessary to get at the essence of your message. The naked presenter approaches the presentation task embracing the ideas of simplicity, clarity, honesty, integrity, and passion. She presents with a certain freshness. The ideas may or may not be radical, earth shattering, or new. But there is a “newness” and freshness to her approach and to her content.

He further clarifies it in the next post, More on getting naked:

“Presenting naked” involves being lost in the moment. I do not mean lost as in losing your place. I mean being so “in the moment” — without worry of the past or future — that you are as demonstrably interested (or moved, impassioned, excited, etc.) as your audience has (or will) become. This is a true connection.

Connecting with the audience - so rare in the typical (boring) presentation.

Here are just a few of his points from Make your next presentation naked:

• Forget the podium. Move away from obstacles that are between you and the audience.

It’s always easier to hide behind a podium, especially if you’re not confident. That’s where your computer and your notes are. That’s something stable that you can cling on to. And the audience won’t see your shaking legs or your wet pants. (But if you’re naked, your pants wouldn’t be wet.)

• Don’t attempt to hide. What’s the point? Do not be evasive intellectually or physically.

Intellectually evasive. I’ve gone for so many presentations where the presentor is asked a difficult question, and he answers it in a roundabout manner, and eventually skirts the core of the question. The cred-o-meter immediately plunges.

• Do not become attached to your software — if your computer crashes, screw it…the show must go on immediately, not after you have rebooted. Stuff happens, move on. Your message is far greater than the technology helping you.

Tough, especially if Powerpoint is the presentation (with you providing the sound effects).

• Keep it simple. All of it. Simple goals, clear messages, and moderation in length.

Isn’t it so easy to over-present, to stuff our presentations with loads of info?

I’ll use his conclusion, since I’m too lazy to think of one:

Presenting 100% naked may not be appropriate for every case, but stripping down as much as we can often will make a huge, refreshing difference. The result will be a presentation that is different and somehow more real, “real” like a frank conversation among friends. In my experience, the higher up the management chain you go, the less real the talk. People at the highest level of management do not often present naked, but I wish they would.

“The higher up the management chain you go, the less real the talk. ” Tell me about it. We need CEOs that blog - real, honest blogging, not corporate claptrap.

5 mins - greet students; take attendance
10 mins - introduce topic
20 mins - show slides 1-12
…

Someone who used to teach in a tertiary institution here was complaining that he was given and had to follow lesson plans like this - no restructuring of lessons.

A complete waste, for I happen to know that this guy is a brilliant teacher, if only he was allowed to do his own thing. No wonder he doesn’t teach there anymore.

With policies like this (this is not a universal phenomenon in Singapore, thankfully), look me in the eye and tell me you don’t know why our students aren’t creative.

Ok this is just a small area, but little things added together, and we have something called culture. And ours in an uncreative one.

I was chatting with a law lecturer, when the conversation somehow turned to mathematics, and he started to express that he wouldn’t mind teaching it.

My parting words to him:

“Well, mathematics and law aren’t that much different after all!”

He stopped in his tracks.

“Is it?”

I wasn’t expecting him to question me, and I didn’t know how to answer.

“For some reason, I somehow sense a link connecting the two, but I can’t quite place it now. I’ll let you know if it becomes clear!”

Law and math. Math and law. Hmmm….

They both rely heavily on logic?

That’s the best I’m able to come up with so far. Oh well…

Dear Jakob Nielsen,

I’ve been a reader of your Alertbox articles forever, and I’ve learnt quite a bit from there (as well as some of your books).

However, I think that your recent article, Weblog Usability: The Top Ten Design Mistakes, attracts a lot of air. In other words, it sucks. Ok, some of it is good, but since you’re supposed to be THE usability guru, I have to hold you to a much higher standard.

Allow me to do a point-by-point critique on the usability issues you highlighted.

1. No Author Biographies

Unless you’re a business blog, you probably don’t need a full-fledged “about us” section the way a corporate site does. That said, the basic rationale for “about us” translates directly into the need for an “about me” page on a weblog: users want to know who they’re dealing with.

It’s a simple matter of trust. Anonymous writings have less credence than something that’s signed. And, unless a person’s extraordinarily famous, it’s not enough to simply say that Joe Blogger writes the content. Readers want to know more about Joe. Does he have any credentials or experience in the field he’s commenting on? (Even if you don’t have formal credentials, readers will trust you more if you’re honest about that fact, set forth your informal experience, and explain the reason for your enthusiasm.)

I agree with you to some extent here. But see my critique on the next point, where I’ll show you where I disagree.

2. No Author Photo

Even weblogs that provide author bios often omit the author photo. A photo is important for two reasons:

* It offers a more personable impression of the author. You enhance your credibility by the simple fact that you’re not trying to hide. Also, users relate more easily to somebody they’ve seen.
* It connects the virtual and physical worlds. People who’ve met you before will recognize your photo, and people who’ve read your site will recognize you when you meet in person (say, at a conference — or the company cafeteria if you’re an intranet blogger).

A huge percentage of the human brain is dedicated to remembering and recognizing faces. For many, faces work better than names. I learned this lesson myself in 1987 when I included my photo in a HyperCard stack I authored that was widely disseminated on Mac-oriented BBSs. Over the next two years, countless people came up to me and said, “I liked your stack,” having recognized me from the photo.

Also, if you run a professional weblog and expect to be quoted in the press, you should follow the recommendations for using the Web for PR and include a selection of high-resolution photos that photo editors can download.

Adding a photo does help add credibility to a very limited extent, but I would argue that it’s the content that matters more. Remember Salam Pax, the Iraqi blogger? No picture, no real name, just content. Oh, and there’s me

3. Nondescript Posting Titles

Sadly, even though weblogs are native to the Web, authors rarely follow the guidelines for writing for the Web in terms of making content scannable. This applies to a posting’s body text, but it’s even more important with headlines. Users must be able to grasp the gist of an article by reading its headline. Avoid cute or humorous headlines that make no sense out of context.

Your posting’s title is microcontent and you should treat it as a writing project in its own right. On a value-per-word basis, headline writing is the most important writing you do.

Descriptive headlines are especially important for representing your weblog in search engines, newsfeeds (RSS), and other external environments. In those contexts, users often see only the headline and use it to determine whether to click into the full posting. Even if users see a short abstract along with the headline (as with most search engines), user testing shows that people often read only the headline. In fact, people often read only the first three or four words of a headline when scanning a list of possible places to go. Sample bad headlines:

* What Is It That You Want?
* Hey, kids! Comics!
* Victims Abandoned

Sample good headlines:

* Pictures from Die Hunns and Black Halos show
* Office Depot Pays United States $4.75 Million to Resolve False Claims Act Allegations
(too long, but even if you only read the first few words, you have an idea of what it’s about)
* Ice cream trucks as church marketing

This last headline works on a church-related blog. If you’re writing an ice cream industry blog, start the headline with the word “church” because it’s the information-carrying word within a context of all ice cream, all the time.

In browsing weblog headline listings to extract these examples, I noticed several headlines in ALL CAPS. That’s always bad. Reading speed is reduced by 10% and users are put off by the appearance of shouting.

The problem with your recommended headlines, Dr Nielsen, is that they are boring. Hyper boring. Well, if it’s a boring announcement blog, sure. But if it’s a personal blog that gets its readers because of its interesting content, following your recommendations may kill its style and flavor.

4. Links Don’t Say Where They Go

Many weblog authors seem to think it’s cool to write link anchors like: “some people think” or “there’s more here and here.” Remember one of the basics of the Web: Life is too short to click on an unknown. Tell people where they’re going and what they’ll find at the other end of the link.

Generally, you should provide predictive information in either the anchor text itself or the immediately surrounding words. You can also use link titles for supplementary information that doesn’t fit with your content. (To see a link title in action, mouse over the “link titles” link.)

A related mistake in this category is to use insider shorthand, such as using first names when you reference other writers or weblogs. Unless you’re writing only for your friends, don’t alienate new visitors by appearing to be part of a closed clique. The Web is not high school.

I’ve been aware of this issue for a long time - I’ve seen many prominent bloggers do it, and I admit that I’ve done it myself every now and then. It’s not just a usability issue, Dr Nielsen, it’s an accessibility issue. A blind user using a screen reading doing a list of links would greatly appreciate your recommendation here.

However, it’s not always about being ‘cool’; sometimes it’s to do with the writing style of the blogger - something I doubt you appreciate very much, since you’re hardly the best writer around (i.e. your writing style is boring).

Which brings me to your recommendation to use link titles. I think it should be used, but I don’t use it myself, only because it’s too much trouble to me - the blog engine I use doesn’t let me add a link title conveniently. Maybe you should write an Alertbox article on blog engines and usability?

5. Classic Hits are Buried

Hopefully, you’ll write some pieces with lasting value for readers outside your fan base. Don’t relegate such classics to the archives, where people can only find something if they know you posted it, say, in May 2003.

Highlight a few evergreens in your navigation system and link directly to them. For example, my own list of almost 300 Alertbox columns starts by saying, “Read these first: Usability 101 and Top Ten Mistakes of Web Design.”

Also, remember to link to your past pieces in newer postings. Don’t assume that readers have been with you from the beginning; give them background and context in case they want to read more about your ideas.

Okay you’ve got a point here. The recent addition of my popular category is similar to your what you suggested, although one could say that mine isn’t that visible, since it’s hidden among the rest of the categories. I’ll fix it some day.

6. The Calendar is the Only Navigation

A timeline is rarely the best information architecture, yet it’s the default way to navigate weblogs. Most weblog software provides a way to categorize postings so users can easily get a list of all postings on a certain topic. Do use categorization, but avoid the common mistake of tagging a posting with almost all of your categories. Be selective. Decide on a few places where a posting most belongs.

Categories must be sufficiently detailed to lead users to a thoroughly winnowed list of postings. At the same time, they shouldn’t be so detailed that users face a category menu that’s overly long and difficult to scan. Ten to twenty categories are appropriate for structuring many topics.

On the main page for each category, highlight that category’s evergreens as well as a time line of its most recent postings.

I mostly agree with the calendar part - not good if it’s the only navigation. But really, not too many blogs suffer from this problem.

And I somewhat agree with the category part too. But then again, good categorization is not always the easiest thing to implement, depending on the nature of your content. For bloggers like myself who write on a wide range of topics, categorization is often difficult.

Also, some bloggers are using tagclouds, which are basically a lot of categories. I still don’t see tagclouds as a usability issue at this point. Do a study on this, and let’s see the data.

7. Irregular Publishing Frequency

Establishing and meeting user expectations is one of the fundamental principles of Web usability. For a weblog, users must be able to anticipate when and how often updates will occur.

For most weblogs, daily updates are probably best, but weekly or even monthly updates might work as well, depending on your topic. In either case, pick a publication schedule and stick to it. If you usually post daily but sometimes let months go by without new content, you’ll lose many of your loyal — and thus most valuable — readers.

Certainly, you shouldn’t post when you have nothing to say. Polluting cyberspace with excess information is a sin. To ensure regular publishing, hold back some ideas and post them when you hit a dry spell.

It is a good thing to have regular posts, but with RSS, this is becoming less of an issue. Of course, Dr Nielsen, I suppose you don’t really get this, as I notice that your site doesn’t even have RSS. Robert Scoble would call it “lame”. Me too.

8. Mixing Topics

If you publish on many different topics, you’re less likely to attract a loyal audience of high-value users. Busy people might visit a blog to read an entry about a topic that interests them. They’re unlikely to return, however, if their target topic appears only sporadically among a massive range of postings on other topics. The only people who read everything are those with too much time on their hands (a low-value demographic).

The more focused your content, the more focused your readers. That, again, makes you more influential within your niche. Specialized sites rule the Web, so aim tightly.

If you have the urge to speak out on, say, both American foreign policy and the business strategy of Internet telephony, establish two blogs. You can always interlink them when appropriate.

Ermm… so you’re saying my readers have “too much time on their hands” and are “a low-value demographic”?

Anyway, it’s true that focused content attracts focused readers and all, but there are blogs which are broad based and attract a whole bunch of readers with wide interests. But you wouldn’t understand this, since you’re such a specialist in usability, that you often fail to see beyond your usability silo. Just look at your homepage - very usable, very ugly.

9. Forgetting That You Write for Your Future Boss

Whenever you post anything to the Internet — whether on a weblog, in a discussion group, or even in an email — think about how it will look to a hiring manager in ten years. Once stuff’s out, it’s archived, cached, and indexed in many services that you might never be aware of.

Years from now, someone might consider hiring you for a plum job and take the precaution of ‘nooping you first. (Just taking a stab at what’s next after Google. Rest assured: there will be some super-snooper service that’ll dredge up anything about you that’s ever been bitified.) What will they find in terms of naïvely puerile “analysis” or offendingly nasty flames published under your name?

Think twice before posting. If you don’t want your future boss to read it, don’t post.

I agree completely. Why do you think I’m writing anonymously?

10. Having a Domain Name Owned by a Weblog Service
Having a weblog address ending in blogspot.com, typepad.com, etc. will soon be the equivalent of having an @aol.com email address or a Geocities website: the mark of a naïve beginner who shouldn’t be taken too seriously.

Letting somebody else own your name means that they own your destiny on the Internet. They can degrade the service quality as much as they want. They can increase the price as much as they want. They can add atop your content as many pop-ups, blinking banners, or other user-repelling advertising techniques as they want. They can promote your competitor’s offers on your pages. Yes, you can walk, but at the cost of your loyal readers, links you’ve attracted from other sites, and your search engine ranking.

The longer you stay at someone else’s domain name, the higher the cost of going independent. Yes, it’s tempting to start a new weblog on one of the services that offer free accounts. It’s easy, it’s quick, and it’s obviously cheap. But it only costs $8 per year to get your personal domain name and own your own future. As soon as you realize you’re serious about blogging, move it away from a domain name that’s controlled by somebody else. The longer you delay, the more pain you’ll feel when you finally make the move.

Dr Nielsen, I use a @gmail.com email address, and I don’t think it screams newbie. In fact, I get a lot less spam on my @gmail.com address than your nielsen@nngroup.com address, partly because gmail filters out the spam quite well, whereas you have to deal with your own spam whether manually or by installing your own filter.

And, even if you have your own domain name, does it mean that you own your own destiny? Has your hosting service been down before? Sure you can change hosting services, but do you have the technical expertise to do it yourself?

The key is to choose a reliable and trustworthy service, free or paid, be it a web hosting service, or a blogging service like blogspot or typepad.

And by the way, your article is about “Weblog Usability: The Top Ten Design Mistakes”, but do you realize that you’re really stretching the definition of “design”? I know, i know, it’s really hard to come up with 10 good points, and it’s hard to stop at 5, since we demanding readers have come to expect the top 10 for everything. Can’t please everyone eh?

I’m looking forward to better articles from you.

Your faithful reader,

Tinkertailor.

I’m now going through a lesson on a particular software.

The instructor likes to move the mouse pointer around when she talks. Terribly distracting.

Tip when you’re teaching with a computer: don’t make unnecessary mouse movements.

I just realised that I can’t do nested blockquotes here - probably a Wordpress issue. Somehow it flattens my 3-level blockquote to 1 level.

Dang.

Of course, normal people don’t need nested blockquotes. But I’m not normal.

Still on the topic of taboos or things we can’t say, guess which recent court case I was thinking about when I read this:

When there’s something we can’t say, it’s often because some group doesn’t want us to.

The prohibition will be strongest when the group is nervous. […] To launch a taboo, a group has to be poised halfway between weakness and power. A confident group doesn’t need taboos to protect it. […] And yet a group has to be powerful enough to enforce a taboo.

Yup. I was thinking about the ’seditious bloggers’.

How come we don’t hear people getting into much trouble for saying nasty stuff about the slant-eyed yellow things like me infesting this land?

Something to think about.

P.S. The quote is from chapter 3 (“What You Can’t Say”) of Hackers & Painters. (I’ve reviewed other parts of this book earlier here: Hackers & Painters, Why Nerds Are Unpopular, What You Can’t Say (part 1).)

“What You Can’t Say” is chapter 3 of Hackers & Painters. It’s my favouritest chapter in the whole book.

(I’ve reviewed other parts of this book earlier here: Hackers & Painters, Why Nerds Are Unpopular.)

Nerds are always getting into trouble. They say improper things for the same reason they dress unfashionably and have good ideas. Convention has less hold over them.

I don’t see myself as a pure nerd now (and I’m not toooo unfashionable, at least that’s what I’d like to think), but yes, I do get into a lot of trouble for saying “improper” things.

It seems to be a constant throughout history: in every period, people believed things that were just ridiculous, and believed them so strongly that you would have gotten in terrible trouble for saying otherwise.

Is our time any different? To anyone who has read any amount of history, the answer is almost certainly no. […]

It’s tantalizing to think we believe things that people in the future will find ridiculous. What would someone coming to visit us in a time machine have to be careful not to say?

I’ve been thinking along the same lines for quite a long time (years), so this is one of the reasons I love this chapter.

Paul Graham goes on to explore the nature of the things we can’t say.

What can’t we say? One way to find these ideas is simply to look at things people do say, and get in trouble for.

And the lovely thing about the blogosphere is that you see so much of the following:

The statements that make people mad are the ones they worry might be believed. I suspect the statements that make people maddest are those they worry might be true.

So why do you think some people hate Xiaxue so much?

Ok, it may be heretical (or whatever the modern equivalent), but might it also be true?

Just think about some of the “improper” things she said. Sure, I don’t agree with all that she says, but my collar remains cool, because it doesn’t bother me if it turns out that she’s right. But those who get maddest - aren’t they the ones who are most worried that what she says might turn out to be true? Ok, some of them are so sure about their beliefs that they would never admit the possibility that she might be right, so what bugs them is that others reading her might just believe her.

So no, it’s not simply a matter of “if you don’t like what she says, don’t read her”. I’m tired of hearing people say that (although this is the first time I’m saying this in public).

There’s lots more to this chapter. Another time.

During a presentation, the atmosphere of the room often improves if the speaker comes across as warm and friendly, and nothing helps more than a genuine smile.

Except that it’s really hard to fake a genuine smile.

Especially if you’re dripping with cold sweat.

But a colleague of mine shared with some of us a tip which works for him every time: Just before you start to speak, scan the room, and look for the friendliest face in the audience - the one whom you know will smile at you. When you start speaking, focus on that face now and then, and you will naturally start smiling.

I had to do a presentation today, but I forgot the tip. Dang.

I sometimes have friends who are parents asking me for advice on raising kids. I wonder why, since I’m sure I don’t have kids myself.

Anyway, the first thing I normally say to them is “don’t watch TV!”

Whoa! they go. Too radical!

After the initial shock, they might ask for the reason.

“It’s bad for the brain.”

Most of them take what I say with a huge pile of salt, since my views tend to be a little unconventional, and thus impractical (unless you’re me).

But really, I stopped watching TV when I was a kid. To be more precise, I was stopped - my parents got rid of the TV. At that time I was already quite addicted to certain TV shows, so I was naturally quite unhappy about it (kicking and screaming). But looking back now, I think it was one of the best things that they ever did for me and my brain.

So why is TV bad for the brain?

Kathy Sierra did a great job explaining it in her post, Kill the television, keep the shows - much better than I would have done. So go read it.

P.S. I’ve never heard a really smart person say that TV is good. Seems like most of them say it’s bad. Go figure.

P.P.S. Seems like the only advantage that TV might offer is in language learning, where it helps kids learn a language not proficiently spoken at home.

Walking by a drain with a missing grill, I decided to stick my camera in and take a few shots.

Here’s the only one that turned out clear (the rest were shaky as it was dark).

Lucky rats. They get to see interesting views.

This is from the first chapter of Hackers & Painters, which I was raving about.

In there, Paul Graham talks about the unpopularity and persecution of nerds in American schools.

And think about how many of the richest people in the world who are nerds.

I love his analysis:

Why is the real world more hospitable to nerds? It might seem that the answer is simply that it’s populated by adults, who are too mature to pick on one another. But I don’t think this is true. Adults in prison certainly pick on one another. And so, apparently, do society wives; in some parts of Manhattan, life for women sounds like a continuation of high school, with all the same petty intriques.

I think the important thing about the real world is not that it’s populated by adults, but that it’s very large, and the things you do have real effects. That’s what school, prison, and ladies-who-lunch all lack. The inhabitants of all those worlds are trapped in little bubbles where nothing they do can have more than a local effect. Naturally these societies degenerate into savagery. They have no function for their form to follow.

When the things you do have real effects, it’s no longer enough just to be pleasing. It starts to be important to get the right answer, and that’s where nerds show to advantage.

I’m thinking beyond schools now. Think about our military organisation, think about our civil service, think about some of the probably large organisations you work for, and tell me that this doesn’t ring a bell.

Anyway, I’m still thinking back to my school days. Was I a nerd? I really don’t know. I guess I don’t fit very well into any particular category. Wait - I belong to the misfits category.

I’ve been following Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox column for ever. Jakob Nielsen is the web usability guru, although I’d say that he’s losing some influence, possibly because he is a bit of an extremist (check out his website design to see what I mean), he doesn’t blog, he doesn’t have RSS, and his doesn’t seem to believe in Creative Commons. (Which reminds me: I really need to put my creative commons license up really soon.)

Anyway, his Top Ten Web Design Mistakes of 2005 article is certainly worth a read, even if you’re only vaguely into web design. I generally agree with what he says there.

Also check out calm one’s Top 10 Blog Design Guidelines. I agree with him completely (I seldom agree with anyone completely).

I was just thinking about abortion and this pro-life vs pro-choice debate.

In Singapore this isn’t a huge issue as in the US, and we don’t really label ourselves as pro-life or pro-choice, so I suppose my remarks are directed more towards the Americans.

The pro-life camp are those against abortion. Quite straightforward, as far as their ideology goes.

The pro-choice camp, as the name suggests, want to give women the choice - to let the foetus live or not.

I wonder how pro-choice are those in the pro-choice camp.
How many pro-choice parents of the pregnant teenager will really leave the choice to her, ready to give her all the emotional and monetary support if she decides to choose not to abort?
How many pro-choice boyfriends ex-boyfriends would do everything in his power to support her in either choice?
How many pro-choice friends will not start to distance themselves from her when she becomes visibly pregnant?
Or how many schools have systematic support for student mothers?

I’m sure there are many who are true pro-choicers.

But too many are really just euphemistic pro-deathers.

Just some random (and politically incorrect) thoughts.

Sometimes, I just know that a book is good just from its title.

Hackers & Painters is one.

And knowing that the author is Paul Graham helps reinforce that belief.

Hacking and painting have a lot in common. In fact, of all the different types of people I’ve known, hackers and painters are among the most alike.

What hackers and painters have in common is that they’re both makers. Along with composers, architects, and writers, what hackers and painters are trying to do is make good things.

Cool. Why do you think I chose Tinker, Tailor? Right - a tailor is a maker.

Further on in the chapter, Graham talks about empathy - something I’ve talked about before.

Empathy is probably the single most important difference between a good hacker and a great one. Some hackers are quite smart, but practically solipsists when it comes to empathy. It’s hard for such people to design great software, because they can’t see things from the user’s point of view.

One way to tell how good people are at empathy is to watch them explain a technical matter to someone without a technical background. We probably all know people who, though otherwise smart, are just comically bad at this.

All this stuff is from chapter 2, which has the same title as the book. I’ll write about the other chapters later.

Anyway, if you want to understand the hacker mentality, or if you’re a hacker yourself, grab this book. I’m only at the 3rd chapter, but I know it’ll be good.

Why is it that when you’re most busy, and you know you need to finish that task by yesterday, you still have this urge to do something else, and you actually go ahead and do it?

Like blogging.

I wrote that about 4 months back, and it’s still very true today. Do I ever learn?

I’ve got a deadline to meet later today, and now I’m still blogging. I’m blogging because I want to announce a new ‘popular‘ category I’ve just created. I’ve created that category so that new readers here don’t have to wade through my obscure posts just to find something that suits their taste. To do that, I’ve had to spend time wading through my own obscure posts…