From “Beauty Is Our Business: A Birthday Salute to Edsger W. Dijkstra“:
David Gelernter said in “Machine Beauty - Elegance and the Heart of Technology“:
Beauty is more important in computing than anywhere else in technology because software is so complicated. Beauty is the ultimate defense against complexity.
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Posted on June 11th, 2006 by Scott Granneman
Filed under: Wash U: tech in changing society, business, commonplace book, technology | Comments Off
From Suzanne Snider’s “Old Yeller” (Legal Affairs: May/June 2005):
The legal-size legal pad has been under attack since as early as 1982, when then Chief Justice Warren Burger banished legal-size documents from federal courts. One informal survey estimated Burger’s move saved almost $16 million through more efficient use of storage space. Several states followed the federal [...]
Posted on June 1st, 2006 by Scott Granneman
Filed under: history, law | Comments Off
From Brian Hayes’ “The Post-OOP Paradigm“:
Christopher Alexander [a bricks-and-steel architect] is known for the enigmatic thesis that well-designed buildings and towns must have “the quality without a name.” He explains: “The fact that this quality cannot be named does not mean that it is vague or imprecise. It is impossible to name because it is [...]
Posted on April 4th, 2006 by Scott Granneman
Filed under: commonplace book, on writing | Comments Off
From danah boyd’s “Friendster lost steam. Is MySpace just a fad?“:
What’s at stake here is what is called “subcultural capital” by academics. It is the kind of capital that anyone can get, if you are cool enough to know that it exists and cool enough to participate. It is a counterpart to “cultural capital” which [...]
Posted on April 3rd, 2006 by Scott Granneman
Filed under: Wash U: social software, commonplace book | Comments Off
From Garr Reynolds’ “Gates, Jobs, & the Zen aesthetic“:
A key tenet of the Zen aesthetic is kanso or simplicity. In the kanso concept beauty, grace, and visual elegance are achieved by elimination and omission. Says artist, designer and architect, Dr. Koichi Kawana, “Simplicity means the achievement of maximum effect with minimum means.” …
The aesthetic concept [...]
Posted on January 2nd, 2006 by Scott Granneman
Filed under: business, commonplace book, teaching, technology | Comments Off
From Ben Jones’ Benblog, February 2003:
I was also thinking it strange, the idea of being a businessman. How, when I have children, and people ask what their daddy does, they’ll say, “Oh, he’s a businessperson.”
Maybe I’ll wait until I retire for little ones, just so they can say, “Oh, he gardens. [...]
Posted on November 22nd, 2005 by Scott Granneman
Filed under: commonplace book | Comments Off
