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Leviticus, Good Software is Simple, Pumpkins, Ads, Credit Card Data
At this point you might be thinking this blog post is needlessly long-winded, or that its useful-information-to-words ratio is sorely imbalanced. You would be right on both charges, and absurdly so — this entire post is admittedly just meaningless fluff that I’m not even proof-reading. It’s all a thoughtless heap of words in disguise, an excuse to fill more ad space. And it is working!
Why read the book of Leviticus?
Leviticus is at the literal center of the Mosaic books. The Bible makes frequent use of chiastic structure (an A-B-C-B-A literary pattern) to impart meaning, with the center of the chiasm representing its culmination. So just purely on literary grounds the Bible is telling us Leviticus is of central importance.
The 52nd Annual Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-off
1st place prize money will be awarded in a “pay-by-the-pound” system with the champion receiving a hefty $9 per pound
Good Software Development Habits
All code is a liability. Undeployed code is the grim reaper of liabilities. I need to know if it works or at least doesn't break anything. Tests give you confidence, production gives you approval.
How to Make a code Change Code - Kent Beck
for each desired change, make the change easy (warning: this may be hard), then make the easy change
But whoever made the decision to switch the lights does not care. It's entirely possible they don't even live in the city, but instead live in a pleasant exurb. Or maybe they don't walk at night and have never considered that other people do.
White LEDs reduce car crashes by 0.1% and that is measurable, but sleep quality and aesthetics are not measurable. You just have to care about them. And nobody cares.
I am (not) a Failure: Lessons Learned From Six (and a half) Failed Startup Attempts
My tale of six and a half failed startups plus one failed academic career, all of which somehow added up to a good life at the end of the day. Of course, hitting the jackpot with Google didn't hurt, but I really don't think that was the whole story. I learned a lot.
Everyone knows your location: tracking myself down through in-app ads
Use some free apps for a bit.
Move around and commute - this makes the geo data more valuable.
"Allow" or "ask not to track" - a combo of IP + location + User-agent + geolocation will still be leaked to hundreds of "3rd parties" regardless of your choice.
Wait for a few seconds until fake DSPs and data brokers receive your data.
Exchange your full name or phone number for an IDFA (if present), IP address and user-agent through the MAID <> PII data purchased somewhere.
Certain order and line item data can qualify the transaction for better interchange rates with corporate, business, or purchase card cardholders. For more information, see Level 2 and 3 Data.
Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the Senate— congratulates The Ohio State University Buckeyes football team for winning the 2025 College Football Playoff National Championship; recognizes the players, coaches, staff, and fans whose hard work led to the championship; and respectfully requests that the Secretary of the Senate prepare an official copy of this resolution for presentation to—
(A) the president of The Ohio State University, Walter “Ted” Carter Jr.;
(B) the senior vice president and athletics director, Ross Bjork; and
(C) the head coach of The Ohio State University football team, Ryan Day.
A Prayer Meeting Like That Does Not Scare The Devil
After about 20 minutes of prayer requests finally we got down to prayer. So there we were, kneeling at our chairs, and nobody much was saying anything, so I thought, ‘Well if they’re not going to pray, then I’m gonna pray.’ Then all of a sudden, as I went to open my mouth, there was a little rattling of the chairs, and I looked around and here they were getting up. The prayer meeting was over!
KFC burger binge at China airport offers glimpse of N. Korean lives
It takes about an hour to fly from Shenyang to Pyongyang. It means passengers’ families waiting for their loved ones at the airport in Pyongyang can munch on hamburgers before the food gets completely cold.
In the past, North Koreans used to throw away paper bags to hide the fact they were eating food from a U.S. fast-food brand.
Rumors quickly began circulating about how tasty the burgers are and not having to worry about declaring them. So passengers nowadays openly bring food items into Pyongyang in KFC paper bags, the person added.
Your Code Doesn't Have to Be a Mess
References and Further Reading:
Simple Made Easy by Rich Hickey
Unix philosophy
Lean software development
Epigrams in Programming by Alan Perlis
Clean Code by Robert C. Martin
A Philosophy of Software Design by John Ousterhout
