Comments on Moserware: Wetware Refactorings

Deadsunrise: Nice :) I assume you use that ...

2010-03-23T21:00:41.225-04:00

Deadsunrise: Nice :) I assume you use that keyboard with the Dvorak layout?

A year ago I said that I was using dvorak as my ke...

2010-02-07T14:27:21.990-05:00

A year ago I said that I was using dvorak as my keyboard layout. I still do it but to make it more challenging I spend a couple of hours doing this:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/deadsunrise/4338226640/

Jeff: Thanks, I'll add that book to
2009-09-29T20:36:51.633-04:00
Jeff: Thanks, I'll add that book to queue.

Great blog... I thought you might find the book &...

2009-09-28T10:53:56.646-04:00

Great blog... I thought you might find the book 'Spark' an interesting read. It talks about the effects of exercise on the neuro chemistry and neuro genesis of the brain. But I think you've got the right idea of keeping things novel and interesting to stay sharp throughout life.

Thanks,
Jeff

Elizabeth Burke: Interesting take on being ...

2009-08-22T15:33:16.912-04:00

Elizabeth Burke: Interesting take on being creative. Thanks for sharing!

I liked this article and the comments (good links)...

2009-08-19T20:54:23.886-04:00

I liked this article and the comments (good links). Am a poor artist type, so am constantly trying challenging myself to 1) find what I need w/o buying and w/o stealing (which local towns have the best recycle dumpsters, for instance); 2) wondering what else I can do w/stuff others throw out (tennis balls, metalic coffee bags, etc); 3) how not to get depressed when the money is low (take up things I used to do as a child, ie. sledding on cardboard, building snow monsters). So far, I've gotten entire course work for a CPA in the dumpster--lots of law, economics, etc. I've made insulation for my yurt w/coffee bags and worn out socks. I've made a shed roof w/old toboggan. Being poor keeps my mind active! Cheers & thanks.

EK: Make sure you clicked on View*Packet De...

2009-06-29T21:06:08.582-04:00

EK: Make sure you clicked on View*Packet Details and Wireshark will automatically decode most of the hex values into very readable data that you can expand in a tree view style by expanding nodes.

I hadn't heard of Harry Lorayne before. I might have to check out his books.

Thanks for the reply, Jeff. Wireshark up and runn...

2009-06-29T12:07:20.496-04:00

Thanks for the reply, Jeff. Wireshark up and running. Now the questions is what is the highest and best use for this awesome tool. I wonder if there is a way to translate the hex into English to read packet contents, or is that only for higher "Echelons".

Prestidigitation audience? For a year I regularly performed before a group of fund managers, and another group of professional magicians, along with the occasional party, and after-dinner parlor entertainment.

400 numbers are random, exercising a memory method learned from Harry Lorraine, the master.

Also practicing meditation using a specialized language with vocabulary for inner states of consciousness, lacking in English. Source code for the soul.

EK: Sounds like you're having fun keepi...

2009-06-28T14:15:29.686-04:00

EK: Sounds like you're having fun keeping current. I loved your use of "prestidigitation." I've only heard it once before. Certainly a unique recommendation. Do you have a primary audience? I think it'd be a good neurobic activity, especially if you have to rely on your other senses to make the tricks happen.

400 random numbers? Are they random, or digits of some number like pi? Sounds like the effort might be worth it for a password like your WPA key.

Feel free to ask questions on the HTTPS post for Wireshark help. I just use the basics (I outlined the steps I used in a comment to "Mr T's Fashion Consultant.")

Thanks for the sharing and stopping by

Jeff, great posts. Thanks. In my 50's, and ...

2009-06-26T12:09:28.461-04:00

Jeff, great posts. Thanks. In my 50's, and learned C#, Javascript, prestidigitation, and just for fun, memorized a set of 400 random numbers. I find it is helpful to consider the mind a place, and give it as much reality as i give physical world, so thoughts become things.

Still trying to get Wireshark to work, though ! LOL.

Mike Petry: Thanks. Background information ...

2009-02-03T22:49:00.000-05:00

Mike Petry: Thanks. Background information on that can be found in my latest post.

Spradicus: Nice review yourself! Thanks for the link.

abraginsky: I know personally that listening to anything beyond environmental sounds (e.g. ocean waves or a mountain stream) causes a decrease in my productivity (creativity is much harder to gauge), so I tend to agree with the study Peopleware quoted.

I too believe that I have more insight into diffic...

2009-02-02T14:17:00.000-05:00

I too believe that I have more insight into difficult problems when I'm NOT listening to music. I used to think it was because I was so used to focusing on music due to my experience with having a lot of training at piano as a child but learned it had more to do with the whole left/right brain coordination.

I just finished Pragmatic Thinking and Learning an...

2009-02-02T08:50:00.000-05:00

I just finished Pragmatic Thinking and Learning and will say that it is definitely worth a read.

Here are some tips that I took away from the book http://www.fiascode.com/reviews/helpful-tips-from-pragmatic-thinking-and-learning/

Thanks for your great write up!

Coding Horror amazing!

PurplePanda: Combining physical and mental exercis...

2009-01-20T22:46:00.000-05:00

PurplePanda: Combining physical and mental exercise sounds like the winning combination :-)

Hi Jeff,

Great post.

I just started ...

2009-01-20T11:32:00.000-05:00

Hi Jeff,

Great post.

I just started reading "Pragmatic Thinking and Learning" and I'm finding it really interesting and helpful.

Also, I recently listened to Kathy Sierra's talk from Etech last year called, "How to Kick Ass" (from IT Conversations), and she too mentioned that brain games and puzzles do help in keeping your brain nimble. However, she also said she found some research that shows that exercise helps a lot more than just doing the brain games. Maybe that ties in with what Carol Dweck said about running helping mices' brains.

Dennis: I had heard a rumor that Google Notebook m...

2009-01-19T20:10:00.000-05:00

Dennis: I had heard a rumor that Google Notebook might shut down, but didn't realize that they actually discontinued it. That's too bad as it's a great tool. Its current set of features is all I need, so I suppose I'll use it until they pull the plug.

Thanks for the the info!

You may already be aware that Google is stopping development on Notebook.

Donald: I'd guess that challenging games are bette...

2009-01-16T21:17:00.000-05:00

Donald: I'd guess that challenging games are better, especially if they provide lots of possibilities (e.g. chess being better than tic-tac-toe), but playing anything and thinking about it is better than nothing.

I'm wondering how effective games (video games) ca...

2009-01-15T04:59:00.000-05:00

I'm wondering how effective games (video games) can be in growing brain cells. Does the activity have to be totally different or tic-tac and the lot would do .I've got myself a PSP 3000 and plannning getting "brainstorm" if indeed it would help me grow some brain cells :).

NEO D: I agree that it's good to do what yo...

2009-01-10T15:05:00.000-05:00

NEO D: I agree that it's good to do what you enjoy so that you keep motivated at it. From this post: "It's unlikely you can get just any child to apply themselves this rigorously for so long."

Glad that you found fun side projects.

Dave Gallagher: Switching the work environment was specifically mentioned in the Neurobics book, but it was in the context of moving stuff in your office around. Interesting to hear how you switch physical locations.

It's interesting that you mentioned music. Peopleware mentions:

"During the 1960s, researchers at Cornell University conducted a series of tests on the effects of working with music. They polled a group of computer science students and divided the students into two groups, those who liked to have music in the background while they worked (studied) and those who did not. They then put half of each group together in a silent room, and the other half of each group in a different roomed equipped with eaphones and a musical selections. Participants in both rooms were given a Fortran programming problem to work out from specification. To no one's surprise, participants in the two rooms performed about the same in speed and accuracy of programming. As any kid who does his arithmetic homework with music on knows, the part of the brain required for arithmetic and related logic is unbothered by music -- there's another brain center that listens to music.

The Cornell experiment, however, contained a hidden wild card. The specification required that an output data stream be formed through a series of manipulations on numbers in the input data stream. For example, participants had to shift each number two digits to the left and then divide by one hundred and so on, perhaps completing a dozen operations in total. Although the specification never said it, the net effect of all the operations was that each output number was necessarily equal to its input number. Some people realized this and others did not. Of those who figured it out, the overwhelming majority came from the quiet room.

Many of the everday tasks performed by professional workers are done in the serial processing center of the left brain. Music will not interfere particularly with this work, since it's the brain's holistic right side that digests music. But not all of the work is centered in the left brain. There is that occasional breakthrough that makes you say 'Ahah!' and steers you towards an ingenious bypass that may save months or years of work. The creative leap involves right-brain function. If the right brain is busy listening to 1001 Strings on Muzak, the opportunity for a creative leap is lost.

The creativity penalty exacted by the environment is insidious. Since creativity is a somethime thing anyway, we often don't notice when htere is less of it. People don't have a quota for creative thoughts. The effect of reduced creativity is cumulative over a long period. The organization is less effective, people grind out the work without a spark of excitement, and the best people leave." - Peopleware 2nd Edition, pp 78-79.

What are your thoughts on this? It's made me think twice about listening to music.

I think that Paul Graham's advice in disconnecting distraction is interesting and is a bit more extreme than shutting down Outlook, but I can see the point of how it'd help.

Donald: I think almost exercise will do, the more neurobic the better (e.g. new routes, new machines, etc.) There's probably chemical released when running that might be helpful. At the very least, I feel better after exercise and that helps focus.

Thanks for all the comments, keep 'em coming!

Hi Jeff, great post.In "Mindset: The New Psycholog...

2009-01-10T06:58:00.000-05:00

Hi Jeff, great post.In "Mindset: The New Psychology of Success" by Carol Dweck, research conducted on rats indicates that running also initiates brain cells growth. You should try that too.

Awesome post. :)

I've found one strategy to...

2009-01-09T09:10:00.000-05:00

Awesome post. :)

I've found one strategy to work relatively well, and that's to change my work environment up frequently. For example, I have a laptop and try to hop between different starbucks I'd libraries to go and do work. I've found that by not sitting in the same desk everyday, looking out the same window or at the same paintings, tends to spark more creativity and increases my level of happiness.

Playing different new music certainly helps (online radio all the way).

Paul Graham wrote an essay about Procrastination (would paste a link but the iPhone won't let you do that ;) ). One of his suggestions was to have a separate computer just for work, one that's disconnected from the Internet and isolated from you distractions (example, don't even install outlook on it).

Paul gave the example of how watching television triggers a social queue in your head, which is "you're waisting time in front of this idiot box rather than accomplishing something."

You can apply that same logic with your non-Internet "work" computer. When you're in front of it, you're there just to do work. When you're in front of you "online" computer, realize that you're now exposing yourself to all of it's distractions, online and offline, and realize that you're waisting time in front of it much like the television.

Thanks again or the post!

-dave gallagher

Great post, I think it helps allot to combine your...

2009-01-04T06:23:00.000-05:00

Great post, I think it helps allot to combine your programming skills with hobbies that you are into too. I am into cars, old and fast. I wrote a program for a racer friend of mine to help predict how fast his car would go in the quarter mile factoring in altitude and other weather conditions. It was an interesting and fun little side project.

Martin Walker: Congrats on the many initiatives yo...

2009-01-03T23:00:00.000-05:00

Martin Walker: Congrats on the many initiatives you've started! Do you have link to the research study?

What do you think of games like Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree? I have that one and play it occasionally.