summing up 69

i am trying to build a jigsaw puzzle which has no lid and is missing half of the pieces. i am unable to show you what it will be, but i can show you some of the pieces and why they matter to me. if you are building a different puzzle, it is possible that these pieces won't mean much to you, maybe they won't fit or they won't fit yet. then again, these might just be the pieces you're looking for. this is summing up, please find previous editions here.

  • coding is not the new literacy, coding requires us to break our systems down into actions that the computer understands, which represents a fundamental disconnect in intent. most programs are not trying to specify how things are distributed across cores or how objects should be laid out in memory. we are not trying to model how a computer does something. instead, we are modeling human interaction, the weather, or spacecraft. we are employing a set of tools designed to model how computers work, but we're representing systems that are nothing like them. we have to create a new generation of tools that allow us to express our models without switching professions and a new generation of modelers who wield them. to put it simply, the next great advance in human ability comes from being able to externalize the mental models we spend our entire lives creating. that is the new literacy. and it's the revolution we've all been waiting for. highly recommended
  • shonda rhimes '91, commencement address, when people give these kinds of speeches, they usually tell you all kinds of wise and heartfelt things. they have wisdom to impart. they have lessons to share. they tell you: follow your dreams. listen to your spirit. change the world. make your mark. find your inner voice and make it sing. embrace failure. dream. dream and dream big. as a matter of fact, dream and don't stop dreaming until all of your dreams come true. i think that's crap. i think a lot of people dream. and while they are busy dreaming, the really happy people, the really successful people, the really interesting, engaged, powerful people, are busy doing
  • keep your crises small, initially, the films our teams put together, they're a mess. it's like everything else in life - the first time you do it, it's a mess. sometimes it's labeled "first time, it's a failure", but that's not even the right word to use. it's just like, you get the first one out, you learn from it, and the only failure is if you don't learn from it, if you don't progress

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