This is how science is done

This is why Richard Feynman is my Hero;

Guardian Unlimited | Life | 'This is how science is done': "To Koichi Mano, February 3 1966

I was very happy to hear from you, and that you have such a position in the Research Laboratories. Unfortunately your letter made me unhappy for you seem to be truly sad. The worthwhile problems are the ones you can really solve or help solve, the ones you can really contribute something to. A problem is grand in science if it lies before us unsolved and we see some way for us to make a little headway into it. I would advise you to take even simpler, or as you say, humbler, problems until you find some you can really solve easily, no matter how trivial. You will get the pleasure of success, and of helping your fellow man, even if it is only to answer a question in the mind of a colleague less able than you. You must not take away from yourself these pleasures because you have some erroneous idea of what is worthwhile. No problem is too small or too trivial if we can really do something about it. You say you are a nameless man. You are not to your wife and to your child. You will not long remain so to your immediate colleagues if you can answer their simple questions when they come into your office.

You are not nameless to me. Do not remain nameless to yourself — it is too sad a way to be. Know your place in the world and evaluate yourself fairly, not in terms of the naive ideals of your own youth, nor in terms of what you erroneously imagine your teacher's ideals are."(Via Guardian Unlimited.)

That, folks, is who I want to be when I grow up. Go check out the whole article, it's got some other great letters. My other favorite;

Just because Feynman says he is pro-nuclear power, isn't any argument at all worth paying attention to because I can tell you (for I know) that Feynman really doesn't know what he is talking about when he speaks of such things. He knows about other things (maybe). Don't pay attention to "authorities", think for yourself.

9:22:08 PM     Discuss: []


Best. Slashdot. Post. On John Dvorak. Ever.

This was written by a /. poster who had originally believed that The columnist John Dvorak (No links from me, loser), was actually August Dvorak, inventor of the Dvorak keyboard. He managed to sum up my opinion of Dvorak solidly;

Slashdot | Dvorak on the LinuxWorld Fracas:

Re:Cheap shot (Score:5, Insightful)

by Jherek Carnelian (831679) on Tuesday May 17, @12:59PM (#12556898)

"He's just a journalist. He's been writing basically the same column since at least the 80s.

You aren't confusing him with August Dvorak [wikipedia.org] of the eponymous keyboard are you?

That would be pretty damn funny.

Re:Cheap shot (Score:5, Interesting)

by MrAnnoyanceToYou (654053) on Tuesday May 17, @01:43PM (#12557451)

Actually, I am.

I'm rather... sheepish... about this now. In fact, I wish I could delete a few posts. Why on earth would anyone listen to this guy if he wasn't the Dvorak I was thinking about?

Now I can stop reading his columns with even the shred of respect I had."(Via .)

Can anyone actually tell me why the hell we're supposed to be listening to John anymore? Or in fact, in the first place? Did he actually do anything interesting/cool? Really, I want to know.

2:19:03 PM     Discuss: []


Well, that was fast....

Thanks to the services offered by the nice folks at ZoneEdit, we're now up and live with the new Domains of netcropolis.org and netcropolis.net. Now, all I have to do is wait for netcropolis.com to come available and I'll be set! *grin*

Mind you, I've been trying to snag "netcropolis.com" for something like a decade. At least the current owners are using it, unlike the cheap-ass speculators that used to have it. I can be happy with the ones I have. :)

Next; New Server! I have to admit I'm torn with the new server. It's all set and rarin' to go, but I would like to upgrade it to Tiger Server (This server is currently running on a PowerMac 8500 with Mac OS X 10.2 Server). Additionally, I'm trying to decide whether I should ditch Radio Userland and either go with the Weblog software that's built-in to Tiger, or try something else.

I should note here, since I've seen a spate of people moving off Radio, that my reasons for considering it have nothing to do with it's performance, etc. The main reason that I'm thinking of dropping it, is that it requires the machine to be logged into a user for it to work. This is completely understandable, considering it's target market. But as I run it on my server, well, that's less useful.

Anyways, stay tuned to this space. More changes ahead.

12:03:29 PM     Discuss: []