Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips Who wants whom? Who wants someone else’s attention or expertise? People tend to forget the answers. You called me. We called him. These mean something—important. We called him. We want his time, attention, expertise—we want something he has and we don’t have. The same when you call me. You want something of […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Some people work on big data. The rest of us find value by working on data that is bigger than we can understand without some hand-crafted tools. For about two years I worked on a BIG DATA project. Well, that is how it was touted. BIG DATA was a cool name that […]

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by Dwayne Phillips The person who picks the adjectives have the power. I heard an idea. Is it a good idea? Is it a bad idea? The difference between “good” and “bad” is which adjective is attached to the noun. The person who chooses which adjective has the power. That person interpreted the idea in […]

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by Dwayne Phillips There are persons and things that we don’t notice much, but who keep everything working and everyone smiling. Please notice and appreciate. lip: noun, the edge of a hollow container or an opening. “drawing her finger around the lip of the cup” Behold the wonder of the lip, that protruding edge that […]

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by Dwayne Phillips We can think to the logical conclusion of a concept. We, however, can choose not to go to that conclusions. We rarely do. The logical conclusion of free enterprise is slavery. The logical conclusion of free speech is hate. The logical conclusion of survival of the fittest is murder. Many more examples […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Beware of those who provide large numbers. Is anyone asking, let alone answering, the next question? Many times in my endeavors I have heard persons proudly quote large numbers. “We are bringing in gazilli-tera-humongous bytes of data every day!” “We can access the data on every grain of sand on every beach […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Somewhere, somehow we forgot what a good approximation was. We used to tell this “joke” a long time ago in a place far, far away. Consider the situation with an amorous young gentlemen on one side of a room and an amorous young lady on the other side of the room. Every […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Really smart persons continue to blunder. How? I read this article recently about how women are hurt more often and more severely than men in automobile accidents. Why does this happen? The crash dummies used in safety tests work well, but are almost always the size and shape of a man. Crash […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Before embarking on a new database, or any new system, learn what it is we want and need. “Let’s create a database to track this,” said an eager and well-meaning person. “But,” interjected another well-meaning person, “do we know what we need or want or anything?” My livelihood has been technology. Of […]

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by Dwayne Phillips When will the curve bend? When should I change? Will I be willing to change? There are curves we can draw that show cost, performance, and lots of things. Take note of them. Take note of the bend in the curve… when USB thumb drive air gap is faster than a network […]

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