University Named After Delicious Beer Predicts Programming Ability

A study of students at the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne has measured that performance in a software code review task was highly correlated with personality types, as classified using the Myers-Briggs inventory. Specifically, Intuitive-Thinking (NT) students found more than twice as many bugs as Sensing-Feeling (SF) students.

...And yes, I am an NT. Go figure.

Cordoba Center

My old friend Neil Craigan posted a while ago:

Is it offensive to build a Mosque [near Ground Zero]? I suppose that depends on your vantage point. If you think that Islam in general was responsible for the 9/11 attacks then it probably is offensive, if you don't, then probably not. Of course if you believe that Muslims as a whole have responsibility for 9/11 then every Mosque in every place would be offensive (you need to be consistent).

On the question of "Islam in general": Many people seem ready to make glib generalizations about those of other religions (including those of no religion, about people of any religion). Few Christians are so naive as to presume that the values, priorities, and politics of all Christians -- from the Pope in Rome, to Christian Animists in Africa, to Unitarian Universalists in eastern North America, to Midwestern Methodists, to snake-charming Pentecostals in the desert Southwest -- are the same. (Indeed, many Christians do not even agree with the leaders of their own denominations, much less with Christians of other stripes.) Yet many non-Muslims, Christians among them, happily paint with broad strokes another religion of equal size and geographic distribution.

There's a great line in the movie "Charlie Wilson's War": Gust Avrakotos (Philip Seymour Hoffman) retorts to his boss, upon learning that he was denied a promotion because his father was an immigrant:

For twenty four years people have been trying to kill me! People who know how. Now do you think that's because my dad was a Greek soda pop maker? Or do you think that's because I'm an American spy?

We might ask a similar question in regards to those American Muslims serving their country in the armed forces and to those who lost their lives, alongside people of many other faiths, on the ground where some would now deny them the right to pray.

Words Matter

"International Burn A Koran Day" is off, says the Florida preacher who had planned the event. In the wake of this good news, however, I've read some unfortunate sentiments online that I want to respond to.

Here are some samples (paraphrased) of what I'll call the "burn it for the sake of the First Amendment" view:

• "The burning should have gone ahead to demonstrate that there's still a First Amendment in this country."
• "Churches should be all-loving, all-forgiving, and model the Golden Rule, so it's wrong for a church to burn the Koran -- but if another organization had wanted to do it, that would have been just fine."

Statements like these boil down to "Don't do hurtful, hateful things -- unless someone tells you not to, in which case, go ahead just to prove you can." A question for those who believe such rubbish: when you were nine years old, you were the one chasing your sibling around with an outstretched finger yelling, "I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you!", weren't you? If your mama done raised you right, you would know that wrong is wrong, and right is right, and the First Amendment doesn't magically transform the one into the other.

Here are some other responses I've read recently; I'll call this the "sticks and stone" view:

• "A book is just a book, and burning it harms no one. Burning the white pages doesn't kill everyone listed in it."
• "There are millions of copies out there. If someone burns yours, just go get another one."

Surely no one can be this naive; this is willful pigheadedness. This sentiment amounts to "Lighting a campfire and torching a cross in someone's front yard are the same, because both involve burning two sticks in an open space." Words and actions have meanings, and those meanings have power. Even small children know that. Do you?

How I Want to Watch TV

The other day, I watched Apple's recent "Special Event" keynote, which covered the new Apple TV. My first thought was "Rental only, no purchases anymore? That sucks!" Then it occurred to me that I watch a lot more TV once than I care to watch over and over again. Then it occurred to me how much money I could save if I could pay for just the shows I actually watch instead of the oceans of schlock that my cable company tries so hard to pour down my throat. And the truth be told, I'd much rather watch TV on my TV, not browse for stuff to buy. My god, I do want to watch TV that way!

Have I been won over because Apple is clever and insightful, or because Steve's Reality Distortion Field is twisting my perceptions?

Later, I watched the Google TV demo at the IFA consumer electronics conference (thanks to John Gruber for the link; skip to 32:00 to see the Google TV bit). I hope before this product hits the street that someone from Google will explain how this is not just WebTV with a Google logo on it. The market decided a decade ago that people don't want yet another gigantic remote control, and they don't want to have to wave that remote control around trying futilely to control a cursor on a screen on the other side of their living room so that they can type something into a search box with the keyboard they have to keep in their lap. Google is trying to play this game again, expecting it to turn out differently this time around.

Ah, here's the difference (42:00): Google TV will have apps! In the words of Scott Beale, "My eight-year-old niece's shitty Boost mobile phone has apps on it." In fact, Google TV will run the same apps as your Android mobile phone. But does anyone at Google believe that an app designed for a touch interface running on a six-inch screen one foot from my face will look and work great when controlled by a wireless pointer on a 32-inch screen six feet from my face? Am I missing something?

Dear Google,

You've got thousands of brilliant folks working for you. They've created some truly innovative products that hundreds of millions of people use every day. How is it possible that you're getting it so utterly backwards when it comes to television? Slapping the same old web browser onto my TV doesn't make it a better TV any more than slapping a web browser onto my toaster makes it a better toaster. Throw it out; try again.

Sincerely and regretfully,
Yours Truly

Tiny Ponies

Frank Chimero gets into my Google Reader subscription list with his post "There is a Horse in the Apple Store."

Thanks, Ryan, for the link.