“A true saying it is, ‘Desire hath no rest;‘ is infinite in itself, endless; and as one calls it, a perpetual rack, or horse-mill, according to Austin, still going round as in a ring.””
“A second case concerns Charles Whitman, the 1966 “Texas Tower” sniper who, after killing his wife and mother, opened fire atop a tower at the University of Texas in Austin, killing sixteen and wounding thirty-two, one of the first school massacres. Whitman was literally an Eagle Scout and childhood choirboy, a happily married engineering major with an IQ in the 99th percentile. In the prior year he had seen doctors, complaining of severe headaches and violent impulses (e.g., to shoot people from the campus tower). He left notes by the bodies of his wife and his mother, proclaiming love and puzzlement at his actions: “I cannot rationaly [sic] pinpoint any specific reason for [killing her],” and “let there be no doubt in your mind that I loved this woman with all my heart.” His suicide note requested an autopsy of his brain, and that any money he had be given to a mental health foundation. The autopsy proved his intuition correct”
“Describing his technique to Robert Frost, Clarke said "I load myself down with chains and try to wriggle free.””
“He knew that some believed that standardization would impede innovation; that was one of the arguments people who resisted standardization were most inclined to make. But Barton was not so sure of that.””
“If the parents of schoolchildren in an elementary school in Austin worry most about the dangers their children face crossing busy streets near the school, they getting a stop sign installed or a traffic pattern changed will be their first goal. Other aims and actions may follow, once they experience their collective power. "Winning creates imagination," says Sister Judy Donovan, leading organizer of Valley Interfaith. "Once they see they can get a stop sign, they start thinking about what might be done in the school." Successful action gives people lessons in their own power.””
Robert Austin was an English writer and artist, renowned for his evocative sketches and writings that captured the essence of the English countryside. Born in 1895, he developed a keen interest in art...
“Turk had family in Austin, Texas. But they hadn’t heard from him lately and wouldn’t expect to.””
“In 1918, anti-German hysteria was sweeping Texas. Germans who showed insufficient enthusiasm in purchasing Liberty Bonds were publicly horsewhipped; bands of armed men broke into the homes of German families who were rumored to have pictures of the Kaiser on the walls; a State Council of Defense, appointed by the Governor, recommended that German (and all other foreign languages) be barred from the state forever. Hardly had Sam Johnson arrived in Austin in February, 1918, when debate began on House Bill 15, which would make all criticism, even a remark made in casual conversation, of America’s entry into the war, of America’s continuation in the war, of America’s government in general, of America’s Army, Navy or Marine Corps, of their uniforms, or of the American flag, a criminal offense punishable by terms of two to twenty-five years”
“Easily. It’s pretty common in this kind of job to see significant disparities in ability. It’s not like other kinds of work, where the guy who does it best might be one and a half times faster or better than the next person. In IT, especially in an area like software development, some people work a lot faster and a lot better than others.””
“Iterative, adaptive approach that recognized the importance of developing prototypes or else manually walking through how the system would work in great detail, to discover problems that could not be foreseen any other way, and to make midcourse adjustments””
“Assigning best people to the project (“If they’re easy to give up, they’re the wrong people.”)””
“So the best project management policies are those that promote open flow of information up and down the project hierarchy.””
“Type 1 leadership was about functional requirements and individual systems; the focus was operational. Type 2 was less about managing individual projects and systems, more about managing portfolios of projects and infrastructures, as well as playing a senior team leadership role; Type 2 leaders left the details of managing operational functions and individual systems to others, though they remained accountable for it all working. Type 3 evolved into a job of managing strategy and resources, leaving the details of management of portfolios and infrastructure to others.””
“Good CIOs are hard to find. Even if you can find one, it may take as much as a year for a CIO new to the company to learn the company environment and become an effective leader.””
“Oh, I see. I think. I don’t have to actually know things I don’t know, I just have to know what they are and realize that they’re in the don’t-know category.” The kid drained the last of a mug of Coke and slammed it down hard on the bar. “That’s it!” Despite himself, Barton felt proud. He took””
“Is truth an absolute?””