Alex Kessinger Shared Items

Google’s Chief Economist: “Newspapers Have Never Made Much Money From News”

alex — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 05:48:07 +0000

Polyamory Is Wrong

alex — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:16:06 +0000

Very funny T-Shirt that I found via Unreasonablefaith’s awesome blog about religion, science and skepticism – good combo.
Advertisement: Busted Tees: Funniest T-Shirts Anywhere More Cowbell, Jesus Hates the Yankees, Great Gifts!

Twitter / John Federico

alex — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 08:40:43 +0000

Shared by voidfiles

Nice to see that even Media Temple has problems, at least I only pay 10 bucks a month to get marginal service, dreamhost.
http://MagicalTablet.com got a bit of Digg traffic today and MediaTemple s**t the bed. *sigh* So much for "Grid Servers."

Ask E.T.: Edward Tufte Presidential Appointment

alex — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 05:16:06 +0000

Shared by voidfiles

Edward Tufte was appointed by President Obama to help "track and explain $787 billion in recovery stimulus funds"
Edward Tufte Presidential Appointment

THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, March 5, 2010

President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts

WASHINGTON

President Obama announced his intent to appoint several individuals to serve on the Recovery Independent Advisory Panel. Their
bios are below.

President Obama said, "These impressive individuals will be valued additions to our team as we work to confront the challenges
facing our nation. I look forward to working with them in the months and years to come."

Steven Koch, Appointee for Member, Recovery Independent Advisory Panel

Steven Koch is a Vice Chairman and Co-Chairman of Credit Suisse's Mergers and Acquisitions Group. He joined Credit Suisse in
1985. Mr. Koch also teaches in the Director's Consortium, a semi-annual seminar he helped to organize, that is sponsored by
the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth, the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, Stanford
Graduate School of Business and the Stanford Law School. He serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Sinai Health
System in Chicago and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Greater Chicago Food Depository, The Board of Trustees of
the Francis W. Parker School and the Green Ribbon Committee of the Chicago Climate Action Plan. Mr. Koch received his J.D.
from the University of Chicago Law School, his M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and his B.A. from
Hampshire College.

Chris Sale, Appointee for Member, Recovery Independent Advisory Panel

Chris Sale is Vice President for Development Finance at CHF International where she provides guidance and informs policy for
the CHF International's microenterprise, housing finance, and small to medium enterprise lending programs. Ms. Sale has more
than twenty years of experience in finance and development, having served as the Deputy Advisor for External Relations for the
Inter-American Development Bank, Deputy to the Chairman and CFO of the FDIC, COO of the US Small Business Administration,
among other positions. She is currently a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration, and the Finance and
Investment Chair for the National Partnership for Women and Families. She received an MBA from American University and
completed her undergraduate work at Boston University.

Malcolm K. Sparrow, Appointee for Member, Recovery Independent Advisory Panel

Malcolm K. Sparrow is a Professor of the Practice of Public Management at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, where he
has been teaching since 1988. Before joining the Harvard University faculty, Dr. Sparrow served 10 years with the British Police
Service, gaining extensive experience in criminal investigation and rising to the rank of Detective Chief Inspector. At Harvard his
research and teaching has focused on the distinctive challenges faced by regulatory and law enforcement agencies as they seek
to control risks and threats of various kinds. Dr. Sparrow has authored several books and worked closely with U.S. and overseas
regulators on issues including crime, terrorism, corruption, fraud, environmental protection, safety management and regulatory
compliance. He holds a PhD in applied mathematics from the University of Kent in Canterbury, England, a MPA from the
Kennedy School, and a MA in mathematics from Cambridge University.

Edward Tufte, Appointee for Member, Recovery Independent Advisory Panel

Edward Tufte is Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Statistics, and Computer Science at Yale University. He wrote, designed,
and self-published The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, Envisioning Information, Visual Explanations, and Beautiful
Evidence, which have received 40 awards for content and design. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,
the Guggenheim Foundation, the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, the Society for Technical
Communication, and the American Statistical Association. He received his PhD in political Science from Yale University and BS
and MS in statistics from Stanford University.

______________________________________________________________________________

From ET:
I will be serving on the Recovery Independent Advisory Panel. This Panel advises The Recovery Accountability and Transparency
Board, whose job is to track and explain $787 billion in recovery stimulus funds:

Pandora Sees a Big Future: Heir to FM

alex — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 03:02:07 +0000

Developer Certification WTF?

alex — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 21:18:05 +0000

Watch the following video. It will convince you that we have to do something about the horrible state of software engineering.

Bad Code from unclebob on Vimeo.

How could any team of disciplined professionals have produced a wretched mess like that? Clearly they were ignorant of good practices. Clearly they were inexperienced novices. Clearly their priorities and values were all wrong. If only they had been taught good coding practices, and good development skills. If only we could have gotten to them before they made such a horrible mess.

What we need to do is create a certification program that provides developers with the knowledge and skills that they need. This program will involve a course that teaches good development practice, and a certification that they are now knowledgeable developers. They can use that certification to prove to their employers and their fellow professionals that they are worthy of being considered true and clean software developers.

That’s what we need. Right?....

Eagle’s Entrails! Deer Droppings! and Elephant Phlatulence!

I’m sorry, am I being vague? Is my opinion not clear enough? All right then, allow me to elaborate.

What Problem does Certification solve?

Certainly there are certification organizations who have the problem of dwindling revenues. A new developer certification program would likely solve their problem.

And just as certainly there are tin-men who need hearts, lions who need courage, scarecrows who need brains, and developers who need self-esteem. A new developer certification program might just help those lackluster developers.

But who else is served by a developer certification program? Employers?

The Trials of Hercules.

Consider Doctors and Lawyers. When a medical student earns an M.D., or a law student passes the Bar, that’s an achievement. The certification, in those cases is deeply meaningful because the certification is not easily won. To get it you have to spend many years, and many tens of thousands of dollars. What’s more, you have to acquire in-depth knowledge and at least a modicum of provable skill. You have to do something significant.

If we had a developer certification like that, then employers might find it useful. But I know of no developer certification program (except for one that I’ll mention later) that offers proof that the developer has accomplished anything of significance. Most certification programs prove little more than that the “developer” paid to attend a 3-5 day course. As an employer, I’m not particularly interested in the ability of a developer to pay to attend a 3-5 day course. As an employer I want to know what the developer can do.

Michaelangelo’s Apprentice.

If you were hiring a guitarist for your band, you might be very impressed with someone who toured with Clapton. You don’t get to tour with Clapton unless you are talented. But more than just talented, you have to show up every day, you have to work well with others, you have to be willing to get the job done under pressure. Clapton doesn’t work with slouches!

A signed letter of recommendation from Clapton is a certification of significance! Not just anyone can get one of those. That letter will impress potential employers forever after.

As an employer, I want to hire people who have succeeded at working with others in the past. The more I trust those others, the better! No developer certification program that I know of (except for one that I’ll mention later) provides that kind of credible reference.

Over-promise and Under-deliver.

The certification programs that I know of (except for one that I’ll mention later) make implicit promises that they can’t hope to begin to deliver. The implied promise is that the certificant has been shown to have some significant skill, ability, or knowledge. The reality is that you have to look at the word “significant” through the wrong end of some very powerful binoculars before it matches the truth. Indeed, there are certification programs that show absolutely nothing about the certificant except that they bought a seat in a class.

Notice that I said that the promises were implicit. That’s the whole key to making lightweight certifications profitable. The goal is to imply that the benefits of certification are so huge that people will pay to get the certification. Often that implication can be as simple and subtle as the choice of words used to name the certification.

Consider, for example, the title of “Certified Development Chief” imprinted on the certificate of someone who just took a “Development Chief” course. Who wouldn’t want to be a Certified Development Chief? And if you aren’t a Certified Development Chief, then what kind of Development Chief are you?

A course, a card, and a Bridge to sell.

What significant accomplishment can a developer make by paying to attend (or even actually attending) an 3-5 day course? How credible a recommendation about any of the 20-odd students could an instructor of such a course make? I can answer both questions in two words, with apologies to SNL. “Jack” and “Cheese”. The accomplishment is miniscule, and the recommendation is meaningless.

So as an employer of developers I think you can take your course and card and show it to some other sucker. It don’t impress me much. Go away and come back later when you’ve accomplished the trials of Hercules and apprenticed under Michaelangelo. And make sure you bring letters of reference. NEXT!

The one I said I’d mention later.

I’ve got an idea for a certification program that just might work. Now, bear with me because this is a little complicated. It’s an idea so revolutionary, so different, so incredibly new that I’m getting giddy just thinking about it.

What if we asked young graduates to actually get jobs as “interns” for awhile. What if we gave out responsibility to them in small incremental measures. What if they gradually learned more and more things while working for us. What if we guided them to ever greater accomplishments. What if we slowly gave them trials of Hercules to follows, and had them work with Michaelangelos.

Of course some of our people might leave and go to greener pastures. We’ll need to replace them. Also, our company might succeed and grow, so we’ll need to hire more good developers. So what if we…

OK, now hold on to your hat because this is where it gets really tricky. You might want to get up and walk around a bit, get a diet coke, eat a twinkie, or something to get your brain working.

Ready? OK, here we go…

So what if we… interviewed ... candidate developers? What if we asked them what accomplishments they’d achieved in previous employment. What if we asked them who they used to work with. And… ok, this is even wilder ... what if we called those references and checked them out?

Are you still with me?

What if we….

Naaaaahhhhh. Dumb idea.

Honestly, I think I’ve wasted your time. It’s a stupid idea. Never mind. We should all just go get certified instead.

#grid

alex — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 21:14:07 +0000

Funny world | Alex Kessinger

alex — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 17:06:06 +0000

Shared by voidfiles

The universe is funny, my boy is in the hospital, but I got accepted as a a speaker at drupalconSF 2010 come check out my session http://tskr.us/c4">http://tskr.us/c4
My boy is still in the hospital, he's strong and he is going to be okay, it's a respiratory infection, and they like to monitor babies when they get it.

But while I was at the hospital this afternoon I learned that I was accepted as a speaker at the upcoming DrupalConSF. I was struck with two emotions, strong, and opposite; sad anticipation of my boys return from the hospital, and ecstatic anticipation of speaking. I will get to enjoy the opportunity to speak latter, but, today, I was struck by how much a felt like a parent.

Simon Willison: Announcing django-cachebot

alex — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 00:14:08 +0000

RAAAAAAAANDY MIXTAPE PREVIEW

alex — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 07:58:07 +0000