Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips I see a trend in people using the word “modern” to describe technology. I find that unfortunate. Just this morning, I read: modern data stack modern programming practice modern machine learning modern artificial intelligence modern compilers And then I quit. I guess I am one of “those people” who expect others to […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Doing something that goes beyond what is required often leads to discovery, and discovery may be a wonderful unintended result. Many years ago (in the last century), I was involved in an upgrade to an existing system. There were new requirements that required new capabilities. Some of the computing hardware was to […]

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by Dwayne Phillips When the terrain and the map differ, believe the terrain. It is there in front of us. We ignore this at our peril. We have a telephone (at least I still do in my home) and a smartphone. We call both of them “phones.” Their names are the same. How we represent […]

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by Dwayne Phillips We revisit an old tradeoff that moves to a different dimension, but retains the tradeoff. In the early 1990s, (yes, I am that old) we had about a dozen different computing systems in a laboratory. On any given day, one of the dozen would be “down” for repair. Too bad, but we […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Have a direction? What did we lose in choosing it? Sorry, we traded something for something else. We lost something. I am never supposed to write “never” and “always.” And there is always an exception to all rules. Hence, the title of this post. I have yet to find a perfect solution […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Things are the way they are because… Fine. That is one explanation. Let’s have at least three more. Few things are as difficult as explaining why something is the way it is. We see more brown leaves on trees this year than we have in the past. Well, the reason is… Really? […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Sorry folks, “the algorithm found the answer that I used” is just another excuse. We choose what to do one way or another. “The computer made me do it!” Well, actually it was the algorithm underlying the software that runs on the computer. Hmmm. Who built the computer? Who created the algorithm? […]

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by Dwayne Phillips There are many good reasons for starting small. One is that it allows room for growth, and growth brings with it optimism, hope, and other good tidings. Start small. There are good reasons to start small. If I do it all wrong, I have only invested small resources like time, money, equipment, […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Once again, its not the event, its our reaction to the event. Here is an exercise in reading news headlines. Read the headlines (these are paraphrased from the Washington Post on one day): Virus tied to increased risk of neurological and psychiatric illness The pandemic has caused parents to slow down Expanding […]

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by Dwayne Phillips All this mask wearing allows me to not recognize and not talk to people when I’d rather just keep doing things I’d rather just keep doing. The year of the virus has brought us many changes. Let’s consider one that I discovered recently and like (on those occasions when I like it). […]

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