What do Americans look for in a car? I've heard many answers when I've asked this question. The answers include excellent safety ratings, great gas mileage, handling, and cornering ability, among others. I don't believe any of these. That's because the first principle of the Culture Code is that the only effective way to understand what people truly mean is to ignore what they say. This is not to suggest that people intentionally lie or misrepresent themselves. What it means is that, when asked direct questions about their interests and preferences, people tend to give answers they believe the questioner wants to hear. Again, this is not because they intend to mislead. It is because people respond to these questions with their cortexes, the parts of their brains that control intelligence rather than emotion or instinct. They ponder a question, they process a question, and when they deliver an answer, it is the product of deliberation. They believe they are telling the truth. A lie detector would confirm this. In most cases, however, they aren't saying what they mean. -- The culture code.
There is one meaning [for static in C]: a global variable that is invisible outside the current scope, be it a function or a file. -- Paolo Bonzini
Its a shame that the students of our generation grew up with windows and mice because that tainted our mindset not to think in terms of powerful tools. Some of us are just so tainted that we will never recover. -- Jeffrey Mark Siskind in comp.lang.lisp
Opportunities that present themselves to you are the consequence -- at least partially -- of being in the right place at the right time. They tend to present themselves when you're not expecting it -- and often when you are engaged in other activities that would seem to preclude you from pursuing them. And they come and go quickly -- if you don't jump all over an opportunity, someone else generally will and it will vanish. -- Marc Andreessen (http://blog.pmarca.com/)
A non negative binary integer value x is a power of 2 iff (x & (x-1)) is 0 using 2's complement arithmetic. -- [fact]
PI seconds is a nanocentury. -- [fact]
Everything has beauty, but not everyone can see. –Confucius
How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world. –Anne Frank
Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined. –Henry David Thoreau
You can never cross the ocean until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore. –Christopher Columbus