brainstorms

Tuesday June 13, 2006

recently noted quotes

the principle of commensurate care: the care taken in each aspect of a development should be proportional to PxD where P is the probability that it will go wrong, and D is the size of the disaster if it does. -- michael jackson [software requirements and specifications: a lexicon of practice, principles and prejudices]

Atheism is not a philosophy; it is not even a view of the world; it is simply a refusal to deny the obvious. -- sam harris [an atheist manifesto]

We can think of no workable test or principle that would distinguish 'legitimate' from 'illegitimate' news. Any attempt by courts to draw such a distinction would imperil a fundamental purpose of the First Amendment, which is to identify the best, most important, and most valuable ideas not by any sociological or economic formula, rule of law, or process of government, but through the rough and tumble competition of the memetic marketplace. -- california state appeals court [decision]

It's one of the great tragedies of life, something always ... something always changes. -- gregory house [the honeymoon]

the only thoughts and ideas i borrow from are those of my own. -- ludacris

Any feature added to any system has to pass a basic test: If it adds complexity, is the benefit worth the cost? The more obscure or minor the benefit, the less complexity its worth. Sometimes this is referred to with the name “complexity budget”. A design should have a complexity budget to keep its overall complexity under control. -- ken arnold [generics considered harmful]

Either the transportation of a Catholic saint/goddess directly to the sky without passing GO and without collecting $200 was a verifiable fact of history, or it did not happen. -- William R. Harwood [from the amazon review of science and religion: are they compatible?]