#mm

This denial is bizarre. Last time Chomsky denied something I attributed to him, it was Chomsky's word against mine and there was no way to resolve this argument. This time, however, there's some fairly conclusive evidence. Look at http://blog.zmag.org/ttt/. It describes itself as 'the official weblog of Professor Noam Chomsky', and it is attached to Z Magazine, for which Chomsky has regularly written for over a decade. It claims Chomsky makes direct blog entries. Yet Chomsky claims he has 'nothing to with with it'. Are we really meant to believe this? If it is true, why does he carry on writing for a magazine that publishes a false blog in his name? ↗

— Johann Hari

#england #media-lens #noam-chomsky #z-communications #communication

There are no commitments, only bargains. And they have to be made again every day. You think making a commitment is it. Finish. You think it sets like a concrete platform and it'll take any strain you want to put on it. You're committed. You don't have to prove anything. In fact you can afford a little neglect, indulge in a little bit of sarcasm here and there, isolate yourself when you want to. Underneath it's concrete for life. I'm a cow in some ways, but you're an idiot. ↗

— Tom Stoppard

#communication #relationships #communication

[According to 1348 theorists, poisoning of Christian water by Jews was the cause of Black Death.] Even the poison used to contaminate the Christian water supply was described in meticulous detail. It was "about the size of an egg," except when it was the "size of a nut" or a "large nut," "a fist" or "two fists"- and it came packaged in "a leather pouch," except when it was packaged in "linen cloth," "a rag," or a "paper coronet"; and the poison was variously made from lizards, frogs, and spiders- when it was not made from the hearts of Christians and from Holy Communion wafers. ↗

— John Kelly

#plague #theory #death

Wilson had been killed by everybody. It was this that made his death special, the children had been told. It was justice, it was all the people showing how much they hated this crime. Killing was justice when everybody joined in. ↗

— Barry Unsworth

#community #justice #punishment #death

You need to know what you are before you can become what you are supposed to be. In order to know what you are now, you must learn what you are going to be. ↗

— S.K.N. Hammerstone

#angels-and-demons #death #demons #skn-hammerstone #the-rift

I'll follow you, even to death—but I won't live with you any more. ↗

— Prosper Mérimée

#death #life #philosophy #death

Design is really an act of communication, which means having a deep understanding of the person with whom the designer is communicating. ↗

— Donald A. Norman

#communication

We see a lot of feature-driven product design in which the cost of features is not properly accounted. Features can have a negative value to customers because they make the products more difficult to understand and use. We are finding that people like products that just work. It turns out that designs that just work are much harder to produce that designs that assemble long lists of features. ↗

— Douglas Crockford

#philosophy #programming #simplicity #software-development #design

The issue of finding the best possible answer or achieving maximum efficiency usually arises in industry only after serious performance or legal troubles. ↗

— Steven S. Skiena

#design

That doesn't upset too many people, but the fact that accessibility restrictions don't enter into the picture has caused more than one otherwise pacifistic soul to contemplate distinctly unpacifistic actions. ↗

— Scott Meyers

#funny #nerdy #programming #design