fifo.push(stuff)

October 16

Quote: Jean-Baptiste Queru on Jobs, Ritchie; cake vs. icing

“That is why the mainstream press and the general population has talked so much about Steve Jobs’ death and comparatively so little about Dennis Ritchie’s: Steve’s influence was at a layer that most people could see, while Dennis’ was much deeper. On the one hand, I can imagine where the computing world would be without the work that Jobs did and the people he inspired: probably a bit less shiny, a bit more beige, a bit more square. Deep inside, though, our devices would still work the same way and do the same things. On the other hand, I literally can’t imagine where the computing world would be without the work that Ritchie did and the people he inspired. By the mid 80s, Ritchie’s influence had taken over, and even back then very little remained of the pre-Ritchie world.”

https://plus.google.com/112218872649456413744/posts/dfydM2Cnepe

June 28
“ Use of this program to generate postmodern poetry or sociology theses is strictly forbidden. John Walker’s Stego! Javascript steganography tool:  http://www.fourmilab.ch/javascrypt/stego.html
February 28
“ Why does an ebook reader need a page-turn effect? Like having a fake needle on a CD player. Or horse-shit coming from the back of a car. @blprint on Twitter … Couldn’t have said it better myself.
February 19
“ … one thing is to love science; a completely different one is doing it. Like the proverbial sausage, you don’t want to know how it’s done. Massimo Sandal, on leaving academia.
February 5
December 12
“ The term ‘publish’ when used in science is nearly always accidentally-ironic, since most work isn’t made public at all, but kept behind the ubiquitous pay-walls that plague the free exchange of scientific ideas. Martin Robbins — http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/the-lay-scientist/2010/dec/08/2
June 3
“ … by the early 1980s, the enzymes used in laundry detergents to treat stains had been engineered to work at cold-water wash temperatures by companies such as Genencor, Inc., resulting in the potential reduction of hot water heating bills amounting to 100,000 barrels of oil per day, nationwide. Stated differently, the “energy impact” of a single engineered protein integrated upstream into our daily lives via a laundry detergent is greater than the current oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and is roughly equivalent to the volume of biofuel that could be produced using 1/2000th of our crop land. Drew Endy, at the Committee on Energy and Commerce, 27th May, 2010.
June 1
“ Biological systems are just sufficiently advanced technology. When we don’t understand them, they appear to be magical. Me, being highbrow.
April 6
“ … unlike 50 years ago when a fully fledged, master craftsman scientist would work in the lab along with his apprentices and journeyman, today’s PI’s rarely get to work in the lab … So the hands-on technical skills that were honed during their apprentice and journeyman stages are worth little to a PI and instead, they need a whole new set of skills – writing, communicating, people management, schmoozing etc etc. Few of these skills are widely taught … which kind of defeats the purpose of the training system. Snippets taken from http://bitesizebio.com/2010/03/31/does-anyone-know-the-funny-handshake/
April 5
“ In which other profession do you make 8€/h after taxes with a Master’s and a doctorate for about 10 years on 2-3 year contracts until you’re around 40, only to then have a 1 in 60 chance of getting a contract without an end date ? Bjorn Brembs — “Don’t Trust Scientists”