[LEAPSECS] How good could civil timekeeping be?

[John Cowan]

Rob Seaman scripsit:


> I was interpreting Cambridge vs NJ more along the lines of mens et  

> manus.  Maybe NJ is manus et mens?


Hacking has been defined as debugging an empty program, so perhaps so.


> Indeed.  The "right" answer is alluded to in the essay.  What survives  

> the evolutionary process is by definition well designed.    


I wouldn't say that.  "What a book a Devil's Chaplain might write on the
clumsy, wasteful, blunderingly low and horridly cruel works of nature."


> I recommend Stewart Brand's "How Buildings Learn" for a discussion of  

> two similar design trends in architecture.  In general, software  

> architecture philosophy is rather too self-referential and could do  

> with seeking design paradigms from outside the community.    


Say what?  Does the name "Christopher Alexander" mean nothing to you?
(You might claim that software designers misread Alexander, but then
I point you next to Harold Bloom on strong misreading.)

Or is this mere sarcasm?


> I think we all share a common interest in keeping death unfamiliar.


Yes and no.  When you live with an insidious and sneaky chronic disease,
you get used to evaluating actions from the point of view of death.

-- 
Dream projects long deferred             John Cowan <cowan at ccil.org>
usually bite the wax tadpole.            http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
        --James Lileks