E. Luke Walker

Thought of the Day (Tony Horton)

noreply@blogger.com (lukewa) — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 21:54:00 +0000

Most people these days don't seem to respond to gentle prodding. Our problems stem from too much coddling and our delusional sense of entitlement. You have to earn respect, success and health - and that comes from hard work, thinking outside of the box and finding mentors you trust who will push you outside of your comfort zone.

Source: http://tonyhorton.blogspot.com/2011/08/thought-of-day.html

Feeling sleepy?

noreply@blogger.com (lukewa) — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 04:02:00 +0000

Feeling sleepy? NUVIGIL advertises itself as the answer. Just watch out for the side effects.
* NUVIGIL may cause serious side effects including a serious rash or a serious allergic reaction that may affect parts of your body such as your liver or blood cells, and may result in hospitalization and be life-threatening. If you develop a skin rash, hives, sores in your mouth, blisters, swelling, peeling, or yellowing of the skin or eyes, trouble swallowing or breathing, dark urine, or fever, stop taking NUVIGIL and call your doctor right away or get emergency help.
* NUVIGIL is not approved for children for any condition.
* Stop taking NUVIGIL and call your doctor or get emergency help if you get any of the following serious side effects:
* Mental (psychiatric) symptoms, including: depression, feeling anxious, sensing things that are not really there, extreme increase in activity (mania), thoughts of suicide, aggression, or other mental problems
* Symptoms of a heart problem, including: chest pain, abnormal heart beat, and trouble breathing
* Common side effects of NUVIGIL are headache, nausea, dizziness, and trouble sleeping. These are not all the side effects of NUVIGIL.
* Tell your doctor if you get any side effect that bothers you or that does not go away.
* Do not drive a car or do other dangerous activities until you and your doctor know how NUVIGIL affects you.
* Avoid drinking alcohol.

Just listen to the radio commercial. The ratio of time spent listing side effects to benefits is ridiculous.

Ubuntu

noreply@blogger.com (lukewa) — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 22:08:00 +0000

Have you heard of ubuntu? I'm not talking about a Linux distribution, however it is the concept behind the name. I'm talking about the ethic made popular by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The concept of ubuntu traditionally runs counter to the creed of individualism of Western and US society.

Ubuntu means "a person is a person through (other) persons" or "I am what I am because of who we all are."

Archbishop Desmond Tutu offered a definition in a 1999 book:^[2]

A person with Ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed.
Tutu further explained Ubuntu in 2008:^[3]

One of the sayings in our country is Ubuntu – the essence of being human. Ubuntu speaks particularly about the fact that you can't exist as a human being in isolation. It speaks about our interconnectedness. You can't be human all by yourself, and when you have this quality – Ubuntu – you are known for your generosity. We think of ourselves far too frequently as just individuals, separated from one another, whereas you are connected and what you do affects the whole World. When you do well, it spreads out; it is for the whole of humanity.

Nelson Mandela explained Ubuntu as follows:^[4]

A traveller through a country would stop at a village and he didn't have to ask for food or for water. Once he stops, the people give him food, entertain him. That is one aspect of Ubuntu, but it will have various aspects. Ubuntu does not mean that people should not enrich themselves. The question therefore is: Are you going to do so in order to enable the community around you to be able to improve?

Source: [Wikipedia]

Owen at the Zoo

noreply@blogger.com (lukewa) — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 17:28:00 +0000

10 principles of good design

noreply@blogger.com (lukewa) — Thu, 12 May 2011 18:17:00 +0000

Ever heard of the phrase "Less is More"? Dieter Rams is a German industrial designer who came up with 10 principles of good design. His principles have influenced how the products we see today are designed. Recently Rams' work has been reprised in the context of its influence on Jonathan Ive of Apple Inc. In the documentary film Objectified, Rams states that Apple is the only company designing products according to his principles.

Rams' ten principles to "good design"

Good design:

Is innovative - Rams states that possibilities for innovation in design are unlikely to be exhausted since technological development is always offering new opportunities for innovative design. He also highlights that innovative design always develops in tandem with innovative technology and can never be an end in and of itself.

Makes a product useful - A product is bought to be used. It has to satisfy certain criteria, not only functional, but also psychological and aesthetic. Good design emphasises the usefulness of a product whilst disregarding anything that could possibly detract from it.

Is aesthetic - Only well-executed objects can be beautiful. The aesthetic quality of a product is integral to its usefulness because products used every day have an effect on people and their well-being.

Makes a product understandable - It clarifies the product’s structure. Better still, it can make the product clearly express its function by making use of the user's intuition. At best, it is self-explanatory.

Is unobtrusive - Products and their design should be both neutral and restrained, to leave room for the user’s self-expression. Products fulfilling a purpose are like tools and are neither decorative objects nor works of art.

Is honest - Honest design should not attempt to make a product seem more innovative, powerful or valuable than it really is. It should not attempt to manipulate the consumer with promises that cannot be kept.

Is long-lasting - It should avoid being fashionable and therefore never appears antiquated. Unlike fashionable design, it lasts many years – even when the trend may be in favor for disposable products.

Is thorough down to the last detail - Dieter Rams states that nothing must be arbitrary or left to chance in the design of a product since care and accuracy in the design process show respect towards the consumer.

Is environmentally friendly - Good design should make an important contribution to the preservation of the environment by conserving resources and minimizing physical and visual pollution throughout the lifecycle of the product.

Is as little design as possible - Dieter Rams makes the distinction between the common "Less is more" and his strongly advised "Less, but better" highlighting the fact that this approach focuses on the essential aspects thus, the products are not burdened with non-essentials. The desirable result would then be purer and simpler.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dieter_Rams

Baby Owen Laughing

noreply@blogger.com (lukewa) — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 18:13:00 +0000

Stock Options

noreply@blogger.com (lukewa) — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 17:57:00 +0000

A couple years ago, the concept of Stock Options was introduced to me by my Engineering Economics course and sparked my interest. Ever since then I have wanted to learn more about it. But finishing my Master's degree was higher priority and it soon got pushed to the back of my mind. Last weekend, seemingly out of no where, I remembered the curiosity I once had and I decided to refresh my memory on the topic.

A stock option is a contract between a buyer and a writer to buy a stock at one price and sell it for another. You and I act as the buyers and large financial institutions act as the writers. There are two types of option contracts, calls and puts.

Call Options give the buyer the right, not the obligation, to buy a stock at a specific price within a specific period of time.
Put Options give the buyer the right, not the obligation, to sell a stock at a specific price within a specific period of time.

What is the difference between the two? If you speculate that the value of a stock's price will increase then you would buy a Call Option. On the other hand, if you speculate that the value of a stock's price will decrease then you would buy a Put Option. The specific price at which the stock can be bought or sold is called the strike price. A buyer can "exercise" the option anytime before the expiration date.

How do Options work? Investopedia does a decent job of explaining it.

The idea behind an option is present in many everyday situations. Say, for example, that you discover a house that you'd love to purchase. Unfortunately, you won't have the cash to buy it for another three months. You talk to the owner and negotiate a deal that gives you an option to buy the house in three months for a price of $200,000. The owner agrees, but for this option, you pay a price of $3,000.

Now, consider two theoretical situations that might arise:

1. It's discovered that the house is actually the true birthplace of Elvis! As a result, the market value of the house skyrockets to $1 million. Because the owner sold you the option, he is obligated to sell you the house for $200,000. In the end, you stand to make a profit of $797,000 ($1 million - $200,000 - $3,000).

2. While touring the house, you discover not only that the walls are chock-full of asbestos, but also that the ghost of Henry VII haunts the master bedroom; furthermore, a family of super-intelligent rats have built a fortress in the basement. Though you originally thought you had found the house of your dreams, you now consider it worthless. On the upside, because you bought an option, you are under no obligation to go through with the sale. Of course, you still lose the $3,000 price of the option.

This example demonstrates two very important points. First, when you buy an option, you have a right but not an obligation to do something. You can always let the expiration date go by, at which point the option becomes worthless. If this happens, you lose 100% of your investment, which is the money you used to pay for the option. Second, an option is merely a contract that deals with an underlying asset.

[Source: http://www.investopedia.com/university/options/option.asp]

Stock Options are risky. They seem to walk a fine line between investing and gambling. Options have also been around for a long time. Early forms of Options were traded on the London Stock Exchange back in the 1700's. There was a stock market crash in 1720 and lots of people lost their entire life savings.

How are Stock Options different than owning a company's stock? When you buy stock you own a small sliver of the company. You are a shareholder. Many people buy stock in order to invest in a company you think will do well in the long term. In contrast, Options only give you the right to buy and sell stock at a specific price before the experation date. People use options when they speculate that a stock price will change in the given time period. I've read that advanced traders use them for hedging, a topic I don't know every much about. The investing strategies between owning stock and buying stock options are very different.

A list options available to buyers can be found in the finance section of the paper. It is a confusing table of numbers. This article helped refresh my memory on how to read Options Tables.

I don't know enough about Options Trading to invest any real money in them. But in order to learn I set up a virtual brokerage account with Investopedia's Stock Simulator. They give you $100,000 virtual dollars to play with. This gives me a platfor to practice options trading without risking any real money.

I don't know what I am doing yet but on a whim Sunday night I decided to buy a Put Option on BP stock with a strike price of $35 and an expiration date of June 19th. BP is the cause of the big oil spill in the gulf and I speculated that people would want to dump the stock because of all of the damage the company has caused. On Monday BP's stock price was around $37 when I bought the virtual option. By Tuesday the BP's stock price had dropped below my strick price and I was "in the money". On Wednesday morning BP's stock price was still dropping and I decided to exercise my option when it hit $33.

In this instance, my speculation turned out to be correct. How did I make out? Per the contract, I was able to buy BP stock at $33 per share and sell it back to the writer for $35 per share. In virtual dollars, it cost me $1,290.00 to purchase the put option on Monday and I when I exercised the option I made $2,220.00. The return on my virtual investment was $930 (72%) in 3 days.

Not long after I exercised my option news broke that some move in BP's management suggested the company is in trouble and the stock fell another $3 by lunch time. I guess this highlights my inexperience. I don't understand any the indicators for when to buy and sell options yet. If I would have waited longer I could have made more virtual money. But greediness comes with the risk that the price will take a sudden turn and you could end up losing your entire investment. I'll keep learning and practicing and sharing useful information I come across.

If you want a more detailed explanation of stock options see Investopedia's articles: http://www.investopedia.com/articles/optioninvestor/03/073003.asp and http://www.investopedia.com/university/options/

The Sounder

noreply@blogger.com (lukewa) — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 14:11:00 +0000

I survived my first day of public transit. I walked outside at 5:35 AM to the bus stop and 1 minute later it showed up. Nice timing. I got lucky because I thought I would have 5 mins to spare. Ooops. I'll have to leave a little earlier next time. The bus took me straight to the train station. I while I waited for the train I was able to read a few pages of my book. I got on the train at 6:02 AM. Once the train arrived in Kent I hopped off and almost forgot to scan my Orca card. (You have to scan the card entering and leaving the train station.) Then I needed to find the bus that would take me to my work. I didn't see it right away and got a little nervous. My co-worker told me it was a short bus and I only saw one that fit the description. So I hopped on and it dropped me off right in front of my building at 6:23 AM. It was a pretty sweet deal. All for just $2.75. Not to shabby. The Orca card made it a breeze. Once my employer's discount kicks in it will only cost $1.75 one way. With gas at $3.00 a gallon public transportation is cheaper than driving to work in my SUV. I should end up saving around $30 a month in transportation costs.

Hotel Scam - Watch Out

noreply@blogger.com (lukewa) — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 17:36:00 +0000

This is kinda scary if only because of how simple it is. I'll bet this works all too often.

You arrive at your hotel and check in at the front desk. When checking in, you give the front desk your credit card (for all the charges for your room).

You get to your room and settle in.

Someone calls the front desk and asked for (example) Room 620 (which happens to be your room). Your phone rings in your room. You answer and the person on the other end says the following,

'This is the front desk". When checking in, we came cross a problem with your charge card information. Please re-read me your credit card number and verify the last 3 digits numbers at the reverse side of your charge card.'

Not thinking anything you might give this person your information, since the call seems to come from the front desk. But actually, it is a scam of someone calling from outside the hotel/front desk.

They ask for a random room number. Then, ask you for credit card information and address information. Sounding so professional that you do think you are talking to the front desk.

If you ever encounter this problem on your vacation or business travel, tell the caller that you will be down at the front desk to clear up any problems. Then, go to the front desk and ask if there was a problem.

Once Chance in Life

noreply@blogger.com (lukewa) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 01:23:00 +0000

World Village

noreply@blogger.com (lukewa) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 23:15:00 +0000

My USC professor gave a talk on diversity and I found it interesting and shocking at the same time. Here are the highlights.

If we could shrink the earth's population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same, it would look something like the following:

57 are Asians
21 are Europeans
14 are from the Western Hemisphere, both north and south, and
8 are Africans

52 are female
48 are male

30 are white
70 are non-white

30 are Christian
70 are non-Christian

89 are heterosexual
11 are non-heterosexual

6 people possess 59% of the entire world's wealth; all 6 are from the United States
80 are living in substandard housing

70 are unable to read
1 owns a computer, and
Only 1 has a college education (no kidding)

50 would suffer from malnutrition
1 would be near death; 1 would be near birth

The professor cited this work as
Analogy courtesy of Professor Bill White
Cal State, Los Angeles

Are we too old to trick or treat?

noreply@blogger.com (lukewa) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:40:00 +0000

I grew up in a college town, and one Halloween our doorbell rang and we opened the door expecting to see trickortreater—but what was in front of our open door—was another door! Like, a full-on wooden door, that had a sign that said “Please knock.” So we did, and the door swung open to reveal a bunch of college dudes dressed as really old grandmothers, curlers in their hair, etc, who proceeded to coo over our “costumes” and tell us we were “such cute trick or treaters!” One even pinched my cheek. Then THEY gave US candy, closed their door, picked it up and walked to the next house.

— np312 on MetaFilter

My sister is on a Cross Country Road Trip!

noreply@blogger.com (lukewa) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 01:56:00 +0000

My crazy sister was on TV. Why was she on TV? She is helping Brian and Phil run, cycle, and swim 5,000 miles across the United States from Seattle to the Florida Keys. The endevor is named the Delivering Hope Tour and the goal is to raise money to build a state of the art training facility in the dominican republic so kids have a place to go to school, eat, and learn baseball. All this is made possible through the I Love Baseball non-profit organization. I Love Baseball's goal is to develop young men into educated leaders in third world countries. I Love Baseball (ILB) has a two pronged approach to developing these leaders. First, ILB utilizes world-class baseball training and coaching as a motivator and teaching tool to provide world-class education along with opportunities for leadership growth. And secondly, ILB encourages the pursuit of educational, personal and spiritual growth in parallel with baseball and athletic training.

The launch of the tour was covered by Komo4 news!

http://www.komonews.com/home/video/56393332.html?video=YHI&t=a

You can keep up to date on their trip via

The website/blog: http://dhtour.vibeglobe.com/

Twitter: http://twitter.com/dhtour
and Facebook: http://www.hs.facebook.com/pages/I-Love-Baseball-Delivering-Hope-Tour/134059780655

Computer experts secrets exposed. This is so true...

noreply@blogger.com (lukewa) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 17:44:00 +0000

Source: http://xkcd.com/627/

Another Optical Illusion

noreply@blogger.com (lukewa) — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 14:07:00 +0000

Looks like a sprial right?

Its actually a circle of squares surrounded by a circle of squares surrounded by a circle of squares, etc...

Source: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/08/18/square-circle-spiral/

I've been pranked!

noreply@blogger.com (lukewa) — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 19:18:00 +0000

My co-workers were busy while I was on vacation. To my surprise I came back to a newspaper covered cubical. I have to say the vandals got pretty creative. Each key on my keyboard was covered with the letter corresponding letter of the alphabet cut out. Pencils, pens, and mugs were individually wrapped. There was even newspaper inside of my tissue box. And the photo of my wife was replaced with with a cut out of the actress who plays Hermione in the Harry Potter movies. I was told the whole operation took about an hour. A few vacation pictures are posted on the Walker Clan blog.

Cool

noreply@blogger.com (lukewa) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 18:44:00 +0000

Color optical illusion

noreply@blogger.com (lukewa) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:50:00 +0000

Via Discover magazine via Akiyoshi Kitaoka:

Incredibly, the blue and the green spirals are the same color. From the article:

The orange stripes go through the "green" spiral but not the "blue" one. So without us even knowing it, our brains compare that spiral to the orange stripes, forcing it to think the spiral is green. The magenta stripes make the other part of the spiral look blue, even though they are exactly the same color.

Collective Citizens-based Cyber-protests

noreply@blogger.com (lukewa) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 18:55:00 +0000

[By Noah Shachtman June 16, 2009 Wired.com]

Wired is reporting that Iranian citizens are protesting against their government by using cyber-protests. They are using twitter to coordinate rallies. In response, the opposition is blocking access to social media websites and setting up their own twitter accounts to spread misinformation. This is confrontation what looks like in the information age.

More and more of Iran’s pro-government websites are under assault, as opposition forces launch web attacks on the Tehran regime’s online propaganda arms.

What started out as an attempt to overload a small set of official sites has now expanded, network security consultant Dancho Danchev notes. News outlets like Raja News are being attacked, too. The semi-official Fars News site is currently unavailable.

“We turned our collective power and outrage into a serious weapon that we could use at our will, without ever having to feel the consequences. We practiced distributed, citizen-based warfare,” writes Matthew Burton, a former U.S. intelligence analyst who joined in the online assaults, thanks to a “push-button tool that would, upon your click, immediately start bombarding 10 Web sites with requests.”

But the tactic of launching these distributed denial of service, or DDOS, attacks remains hugely controversial. The author of one-web based tool, “Page Rebooter,” used by opposition supporters to send massive amounts of traffic to Iranian government sites, temporarily shut the service down, citing his discomfort with using the tool “to attack other websites.” Then, a few hours later, he turned on the service again, after his employers agreed to cover the costs of the additional traffic. WhereIsMyVote.info is opening up 16 Page Reboot windows simultaneously, to flood an array of government pages at once.

Update: The US government doesn't have an embassy in Iran and is relying on social networking sites like facebook and twitter to collect critical information about what is going on. The government actually requested that twitter delay its scheduled maintenance until after the situation calms down. [Source: cnn]

Hunch.com - helps you make decisions...

noreply@blogger.com (lukewa) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 19:13:00 +0000

I haven't tested this website very much but it looks like a great idea. You answer 10 questions and the site figures out your personality. Then there are questions like "What car should I buy?" and you follow a wizard that bounds the scope of the problem and it gives you an answer. The answer to the car I should buy was a Toyota Highlander Hybrid by the way.
From hunch.com

In 10 questions or less, Hunch will offer you a great solution to your problem, concern or dilemma, on hundreds of topics. Hunch's answers are based on the collective knowledge of the entire Hunch community, narrowed down to people like you, or just enough like you that you might be mistaken for each other in a dark room. Hunch is designed so that every time it's used, it learns something new. That means Hunch's hunches are always getting better.

This site came to my attention thru Kirk.

25 Best Programmer WebComic Strips

noreply@blogger.com (lukewa) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 02:11:00 +0000

These comics are pretty funny. But they may not make sense if your not a programmer.

http://slashweb.org/programming/25-best-programmer-webcomic-strips.html

5 min SCRUM video [betterprojects.net]

noreply@blogger.com (lukewa) — Thu, 28 May 2009 15:21:00 +0000

[Source: betterprojects.net]
I follow the betterprojects.net blog and they posted a 5 minute SCRUM video that I thought was interesting.

Scrum methodology from Soul' on Vimeo.

Wine Tasting

noreply@blogger.com (lukewa) — Mon, 18 May 2009 17:14:00 +0000

This is my first year participating in Relay For Life. My team is putting on a wine tasting fundraiser event. The suggested donation is $20 per person to attend. Space is limited, so please RSVP to me no later than May 29^th. If you can't make the event but still want to give, there is an option to donate on the Relay For Life website. Donations can be made on our RFL page - Boeing Blizzards.

[Source: HIPO-Puget Sound Blog]

HIPO, LDE, alumni, co-workers, friends and family!
We invite you all to our Relay For Life fundraising event –
Wine Tasting (and other fun) at the Castle Bridge Winery in Kent, WA.

Members of both HIPO & LDE will be joining forces June 19-20 to participate in the West Seattle Relay for Life. The Relay for Life is a wonderful event -- a celebration of life and survivorship held in over 4,200 communities across the country. Teams representing companies, friends, family, etc. camp out overnight, each taking turns walking around the track. Our event is 24 hours -- beginning with a Cancer Survivor's Victory Lap to kick off the relay. The Relay For Life raises funds for the American Cancer Society to support their mission of eliminating cancer through research, education, advocacy and patient & family services. In particular, the West Seattle Relay is amazing because it is almost 100% volunteer run, which means over 93% of the funds raised goes directly to the American Cancer Society for its great programs and services.

This fundraising event is a great chance to network with colleagues, socialize with friends and family, and of course donate to a wonderful cause! There will be wine tasting from many of the winery’s vintages, food, a silent auction for many great prizes, plus the chance to buy our very own Relay For Life bottles of wine with $3 from each bottle going directly to the support of our cause.

Where: Castle Bridge Winery, 7645 South 180^th St, Kent, WA 98032
When: Friday, June 5^th, 2009; 7:30PM-9:30PM
Who: Bring your friends and family, or just yourself (Note: This is a winery, so guests must be 21 years of age or older)

Please plan on attending and supporting our team. We suggest a donation of $20 for your participation in this event. Proceeds will go to the American Cancer Society.
Space is limited, so please RSVP early – no later than May 29^th.

I can forward RSVPs to the event coordinators. Email or call me no later than May 29th.

Donations can be made on our RFL page - Boeing Blizzards.

As always, if you want to participate in the relay –- please do join our team, or if you just want to check out our progress, feel free to check in: http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLFY09GW?team_id=420198&pg=team&fr_id=15249

Thanks, and please don’t hesitate to ask any questions.

Principles behind the Agile Manifesto

noreply@blogger.com (lukewa) — Wed, 13 May 2009 19:51:00 +0000

The Agile Manifesto is a simple set of beliefs about software development and the 12 principles behind them written in 2001 by 17 representatives of different software development approaches. No matter which approach is taken to software development, the principles behind the manifesto can be used for guidance.

The four beliefs are:

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
Working software over comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Responding to change over following a plan

That is, while there is value in the items on
the right, we value the items on the left more.

The twelve principles are:

Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.
Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer's competitive advantage.
Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale.
Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.
Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done.
The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation.
Working software is the primary measure of progress.
Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.
Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility.
Simplicity--the art of maximizing the amount of work not done--is essential.
The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.
At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.

Six Thinking Hats

noreply@blogger.com (lukewa) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 16:53:00 +0000

I learned about the six thinking hats in my strategic management of technology class. It is a thinking tool for group discussion and individual thinking. The method is attributed to Dr. Edward de Bono, a Rhodes Scholar.

The premise of the method is that the human brain thinks in a number of distinct ways which can be identified, deliberately accessed and hence planned for use in a structured way allowing one to develop strategies for thinking about particular issues.
Six distinct states are identified

Neutrality (white) - considering purely what information is available, what are the facts?
Feeling (Red) - instinctive gut reaction or statements of emotional feeling (but not any justification)
Negative judgement (Black) - logic applied to identifying flaws or barriers, seeking mismatch
Positive Judgement (Yellow) - logic applied to identifying benefits, seeking harmony
Creative thinking (Green) - statements of provocation and investigation, seeing where a thought goes
Process control (Blue) - thinking about thinking

Using a variety of approaches within thinking and problem solving allows the issue to be addressed from a variety of angles, thus servicing the needs of all individuals concerned. The thinking hats are useful for learners as they illustrate the need for individuals to address problems from a variety of different angles. They also aid learners as they allow the individual to recognize any deficiencies in the way that they approach problem solving, thus allowing them to rectify such issues.
de Bono believed that the key to a successful use of the Six Think Hats methodology was the deliberate focusing of the discussion on a particular approach as needed during the meeting or collaboration session. For instance, a meeting may be called to review a particular problem and to develop a solution for the problem. The Six Thinking Hats method could then be used in a sequence to first of all explore the problem, then develop a set of solutions, and to finally choose a solution through critical examination of the solution set.

So the meeting may start with everyone assuming the Blue hat to discuss how the meeting will be conducted and to develop the goals and objectives. The discussion may then move to Red hat thinking in order to collect opinions and reactions to the problem. This phase may also be used to develop constraints for the actual solution such as who will be affected by the problem and/or solutions. Next the discussion may move to the (Yellow then) Green hat in order to generate ideas and possible solutions. Next the discussion may move between White hat thinking as part of developing information and Black hat thinking to develop criticisms of the solution set.

My professor made the point that you don't want to let the Black hats out of the gate to early otherwise creative ideas may get crushed before they are adequately developed.