Six things I wish we had known about scaling — Martin Kleppmann’s blog quote: "The kind of system I’m talking about is the data backend of a consumer web/mobile app with a million users (order of magnitude). At the scale of Google, LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter (hundreds of millions of users), you’ll have an entirely different set of problems, but you’ll also have a bigger team of experienced developers and operations people around you. The mid-range scale of about a million users is interesting, because it’s quite feasible for a small startup team to get there with some luck and good marketing skills. If that sounds like you, here are a few things to keep in mind." (categories: architecturedevopsscalabilitydatabasespostgresmysql )
Interacting with a World of Connected Objects — Product Club — Medium Lots of interesting thinking about IoT and giving said objects personalities. Loved the sample house conversation between the motion sensor, gatekeeper, dishwasher and roomba. Also, the questions you should be able to ask of your devices: a) where are you? b) who owns you? c) what are you currently doing? d) what have you done in the past? e) how much power are you using? have you used? f) how are you currently doing? et… (categories: iotrobotshomedevices )
Why are conservative talk shows so popular and liberal talk shows a failure? Quote: "Julia Sweeney has a great line that "listening to NPR is like listening to your mother telling you to clean your room". We have a gas crisis? It would help if you used mass transit more We have an education crisis? It would help if you read to your kids more We have a health care crisis? If you exercised more and ate better, we wouldn’t have such a demand on the system. Coming up next: 3 ways you can add kale to your daily diet. Country <X> isn’t doing what we want? If you were more sensitive to their history, you’d understand why. Let’s have a 15 minute drill-down, shall we…? The typical framing of the typical problem is about what you can/should do to help things get better. On the other hand, if you listen to Limbaugh, you (the listener) are never at fault. You are perfect. You are the heart of America. The problem is them – those liberals, foreigners, feminists, etc., fools at best and traitors at worst, who are screwing things up and preventing the great life you deserve. We have a gas crisis? They refuse to let us drill and use nuclear. We have an education crisis? They have a bias against private schools We have a health care crisis? No we don’t! They just say this as an excuse for Big Government. Coming up next: an ad for Ruth’s Chris Steak house. Country <X> isn’t doing what we want? If they didn’t make us act like such wimps we’d be respected and feared! The Limbaugh approach is much more popular. In my opinion it’s not so much the details of the liberal vs. conservative policies, it’s that the one nags you while the other exalts you." (categories: politicsframingculture )
Postcards From Hell Google Glass! Uber! We’re changing the wor… oh, yeah, actually the world is pretty messed up. Reminder to be super thankful for where you were born. (categories: worldlifeeconomics )
24 Lingering Questions From the NBA Finals « Quote: "I realized that Doug had something of a hierarchy of praise that went like this. Level 1: “Coach, that guy is tough.” Level 2: “Coach, that guy is a BITCH.” Level 3: “Coach, that guy is a [12-letter word].”" Going to start calling everyone I know "Coach". Also, humility and unselfishness. Congrats Tim Duncan. (categories: sportsnicknamestim-duncanhumilityunselfishteamteam-first )
Cultivate Teams, Not Ideas Quote: "In software development, execution is staying on top of all the tiny details that make up your app. If you’re not constantly obsessing over every aspect of your application, relentlessly polishing and improving every little part of it – no matter how trivial – you’re not executing. At least, not well." (categories: teamcultureattentionexecutiondetails )
How Perks Can Divide Us, by Melissa Santos, Rafe Colburn | Model View Culture Quote: "These perks are generally most appealing to one particular demographic — young, unmarried guys. All too often, they are intended to make companies appealing to candidates who are members of that demographic, and they reinforce the monoculture that is often a huge problem in our industry. It’s incumbent on managers to think about the disparate impact of perks on the members of the team." (categories: culturemanagementworkbenefitsperks )