Matt's Idea Blog: How to read a lot of books in a short time

Stumbled on this article but since I have a ton of books also I'd like to plow through, I'll have to try this technique. It also got me thinking about the Aversion Therapy mentioned early in his post. I should make uncomfortable those things that I want to do less of like watching TV. It means giving up my comfortable recliner. Ah well someone on craigslist will enjoy it.

the most useful technique comes from Jason Womack [3], and synthesizes nicely the most common ideas. In a nutshell, he says he reads the book four times:

1. Table of contents, glossary, index.
2. Anything in bold, titles, and subtitles.
3. First line of every paragraph.
4. Entire book

Here's the twist: Steps 1-3 should only take about 10 minutes. To capture relevant information he uses a note-taking scheme involving putting dots in margins, and cross-referencing them in an index in the book's front. When done, he transfers them to a text file.

Matt's Idea Blog: How to read a lot of books in a short time

Rules Kids Won't Learn in School

I'll have to remember to teach this to my kids:

Rule #1. Life is not fair. Get used to it. The average teenager uses the phrase "it's not fair" 8.6 times a day. You got it from your parents, who said it so often you decided they must be the most idealistic generation ever. When they started hearing it from their own kids, they realized Rule #1.

Rule #2. The real world won't care as much about your self-esteem as your school does. It'll expect you to accomplish something before you feel good about yourself. This may come as a shock. Usually, when inflated self-esteem meets reality, kids complain that it's not fair. (See Rule No. 1)

Rule #3. Sorry, you won't make $50,000 a year right out of high school. And you won't be a vice president or have a car phone either. You may even have to wear a uniform that doesn't have a Gap label.

Rule #4. If you think your teacher is tough, wait 'til you get a boss. He doesn't have tenure, so he tends to be a bit edgier. When you screw up, he is not going ask you how feel about it.

Rule #5. Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping. They called it opportunity. They weren't embarrassed making minimum wage either. They would have been embarrassed to sit around talking about Kurt Cobain all weekend.

Rule #6. It's not your parents' fault. If you screw up, you are responsible. This is the flip side of "It's my life," and "You're not the boss of me," and other eloquent proclamations of your generation. When you turn 18, it's on your dime. Don't whine about it or you'll sound like a baby boomer.

Rule #7. Before you were born your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way paying your bills, cleaning up your room and listening to you tell them how idealistic you are. And by the way, before you save the rain forest from the blood-sucking parasites of your parents' generation try delousing the closet in your bedroom.

Rule #8. Life is not divided into semesters, and you don't get summers off. Nor even Easter break. They expect you to show up every day. For eight hours. And you don't get a new life every 10 weeks. It just goes on and on.

Rule #9. Television is not real life. Your life is not a sitcom. Your problems will not all be solved in 30 minutes, minus time for commercials. In real life, people actually have to leave the coffee shop to go to jobs. Your friends will not be perky or as polite as Jennifer Aniston.

Rule #10. Be nice to nerds. You may end up working for them. We all could.

Rule #11. Enjoy this while you can. Sure, parents are a pain, school's a bother, and life is depressing. But someday you'll realize how wonderful it was to be kid. Maybe you should start now.

You're welcome.

Rules Kids Won't Learn in School

Drunk History vol. 1 - Featuring Michael Cera

Freaking hilarious!

Fighting the good fight and meeting Negroponte

This is a great post which is funny and makes you think.

"Hi, I'm Nicholas Negroponte, and I founded the MIT Media Lab, ran it, and then quit so I could build laptops for every single child in the entire world."
--
Of course, I said the only thing I could: "Sheeeee-iiit, negro... ponte."
No, I wish. What I said was, "Oh my god! I know you! You're crazy!"
He looked just a little taken aback. I think I even heard him mutter, "Adumbasssezwhat?"

Call Me Fishmeal.: You've Gotta Fight for Your Right to... OLPC!

Registration-free commenting and piracy numbers

Couple of interesting articles. First on the defense of having a registration-free commenting system:

Further evidence that the Ni-Chan paradox still holds:

Registration keeps out good posters. People with lives will tend to ignore forums with a registration process.

Registration lets in bad posters. Children and Internet addicts tend to have free time to go register an account and check their e-mail for the confirmation message. They will generally make your forum a waste of bandwidth.

Registration attracts trolls. If someone is interested in destroying a forum, a registration process only adds to the excitement of a challenge. Trolls are not out to protect their own reputation. They seek to destroy other peoples' "reputation..

Anonymity counters vanity. On a forum where registration is required, or even where people give themselves names, a clique is developed of the elite users, and posts deal as much with who you are as what you are posting. On an anonymous forum, if you can't tell who posts what, logic will overrule vanity.

Updated data from Topix on registration-free commenting (Skrentablog)

And second, an old but interesting recount about software piracy for a company owner:

http://www.ambrosiasw.com/forums/?showtopic=34059

10 Golden Lessons from Albert Einstein at LifeTweak

Another inspirational and great list for the new year:

Every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving - Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein was an amazing physicist. He figured out so many universal principles and equations that he was way ahead of his fellow scientists at any point of time. But he is also remembered for another thing; a quality which made people call him a genius: his words. Prof. Einstein was a philosopher who clearly understood the laws of success and explained them like the way he did with his equations. Here is a list of 10 things out of the numerously wonderful things he had said; 10 golden lessons that you can put to use in your everyday life.

1. A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.

Most people don’t try new things because of their fear of failure. Failing is not something to be afraid of. It is often the losers who learn more about winning than the winners. Our mistakes always give us opportunities to learn and grow.

2. Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.

30 years from now, you won’t possible remember what chapters you had in your science book; you’d only remember what you learn on your way. Life lessons stay with you forever. Real education starts from within.

3. I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.

When you reflect on how far we humans have come from the prehistoric caves to mind-blowing technological advancements, you would feel the power of imagination. What we have now was built from the imagination of our forefathers. What we will have in future will be built from our imagination.

4. The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.

Creativity and uniqueness often depends on how well you hide your sources. You can get inspired and influenced by other great people; but when you are on stage with the whole world watching, you must become a unique, individual force that learnt different values from different people.

5. The value of a man should be seen in what he gives and not in what he is able to receive. Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.

If you think of all the top people in the world, they would have added something of value to the world. You must give in order to take. When your purpose is contributing or adding value to the world, you will be elevated to a higher level of living.

6. There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle.

When nothing is a miracle, you gain the power of doing anything you want and you have no limits. And when everything is a miracle, you stop by to appreciate even the smallest of beautiful things in the world. Thinking both ways will give you a productive and happy life.

7. When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than any talent for abstract, positive thinking.

Dreaming about all the great things that you can achieve is the key to a life filled with positivity. Let your imagination run amuck and create the world that you would wish to be in.

8. In order to be an immaculate member of a flock of sheep, one must above all be a sheep oneself.

If you want to become a very successful entrepreneur, you must start a business right away. Wishing to become one, but fearing the consequences will not help. The same applies to everything – in order to win a game, one must above all play the game.

9. You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.

Learn the rules of your game and start playing it best. Keep competing like your life depended on it. And after a while you will have no one else but you to compete against. At that point, better your best.

10. The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.

Intelligent people ask. Keep questioning yourself and others to find solutions. This will help gain knowledge and analyze your growth in all walks of life.

10 Golden Lessons from Albert Einstein at LifeTweak - Lifestyle Tweaks and Pointers on Self Improvement, Productivity and Positivity

Interesting Software Development Articles

The Mythical 5% - Talk given by B. Eckel about Software Development.

They Write the Right Stuff - About the NASA software engineers.