These past two weeks I've been on leave, staying at home and being a dad to my 2-year-old son. He's got quite a standard schedule: the wife and I bring him out in the morning to let him "see the world", have breakfast, and/or visit the grandparents etc.; he comes back around noon, takes a... Continue Reading →
Feeling good about one’s work
I was just "thinking about things" when this thought came into my head: To feel good about one's work, there are two sides of validation: the internal and the external. External validation: somebody tells you, "you've done well. This is excellent!" Internal validation: you tell yourself, "you've done well; you'd set out to do something... Continue Reading →
Winning first place without ever being first
Or: what I learned from playing too much DiRT Rally (one of my favourite rally racing games.) So here's the context: I'm playing "career mode", in which I buy a car, hire a couple of engineers, and go out to race. In order to win the championship, I have to have the best time across... Continue Reading →
Please let me know if you have any questions
"Please let me know if you have any questions," wrote I in an email I was drafting. It has long been my signature email sign-off, but this time I was feeling a little reflective and reconsidered writing that line. What did it really mean? But try as I might I couldn't quite put my finger on... Continue Reading →
On Humility and Learning
I'm currently listening to Tim Ferris' podcast episode with Eric Ripert, chef and co-owner of Le Bernardin, one of New York's top restaurants. In one part of the episode Ripert talks about what he looks for in his hires (his cooks). Of the various things he mentioned, what he said about humility stood out most for... Continue Reading →
The Cloths of Heaven
One of my best friends got married over the weekend. The first of my close friends whose wedding I attended, and it might be a little unmanly to say it but I was actually quite moved by it. Last night, as I was reading through the compendium of beautiful poems by Garrison Keillor aptly named... Continue Reading →
How to care for your introvert
It's the weekend. I needed this. 🙂 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdG4f5Y3ugk See you at the library.
Be nice
It's not always easy, being nice. Especially when we're feeling anything but nice. But please, let's do the right thing and put in a little bit of emotional labour to check ourselves. Because if we don't, we may not get a second chance. (Had read too many badly written, caustic e-mails today. Though I wasn't on the... Continue Reading →
Deceitful Statistics
Came across this question on Quora today: What are the most subtle ways to deceive people with statistics? The answers are legendary. Going to be one for the bookmarks.
Machine Learning and the New Racism
Scary stuff, but something I think we're already deeply mired in: Physiognomy's New Clothes (the new racism, courtesy of machine learning). Reminds me of the book Weapons of Math Destruction, which also highlighted many important points about the problems with "runaway" algorithms, which not only face the danger of falling into a closed feedback loop (and... Continue Reading →
Donn, fragments 