“A mathematician is not a man who can readily manipulate figures; often he cannot,” Bush wrote. “He is primarily an individual who is skilled in the use of symbolic logic on a high plane, and especially he is a man of intuitive judgment.”
“Gen. Helmuth von Moltke, Chief of the German General Staff[1] from 1857 until his retirement in 1888, often related a story to junior members of his staff that described the essence of the German system of command. Following a battle, Prince Frederick Karl took a major aside and proceeded to reprimand the young officer for a tactical mistake. The major responded that he was following an order issued to him from a superior officer, which constituted the word of the king himself. The prince responded in kind, “‘His Majesty made you a major because he believed you would know when not to obey his orders.’”[2]”
― Auftragstaktik: The Basis For Modern Military Command
― Auftragstaktik: The Basis For Modern Military Command
“Bullies drive witnesses and bystanders out of their jobs, just as they do to “firsthand” victims. Research”
― The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't
― The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't
“The words democracy, socialism, freedom, patriotic, realistic, justice, have each of them several different meanings which cannot be reconciled with one another. In the case of a word like democracy, not only is there no agreed definition, but the attempt to make one is resisted from all sides. It is almost universally felt that when we call a country democratic we are praising it: consequently the defenders of every kind of régime claim that it is a democracy, and fear that they might have to stop using the word if it were tied down to any one meaning. Words of this kind are often used in a consciously dishonest way.”
― Politics and the English Language
― Politics and the English Language
Seattle's Capitol Hill
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Group for Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood. You don't have to live in Capitol Hill to join, just like reading, discussing, or finding new books of ...more
Infrastructure Club
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— last activity Mar 26, 2023 05:47PM
Readings of interest to nerds for critical systems and the built environment
~books
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A list of favourites from ~books. No theme other than "something different." Feel free to add anything you're reading that helped define your own tast ...more
Hans’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Hans’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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