Pulp Faction

I have no idea how this picture got on my camera, but I kind of like it.




As I was taking my post-workout shower, I thought about an interesting article I read today. As I was reviewing the article in my mind, I thought, "It's right up My Favorite Geek List's alley. Why didn't I send them a link to it?"

Then it hit me. I read the article in a dead tree edition of a magazine at the dentist's office. The article would not show up in my browser history.

After a little brain-racking, I realized that the article was called something like "Why Intelligent People Make Stupid Mistakes" by a guy whose name I don't remember and it appeared in National Geographic Adventure magazine in some issue I didn't pay attention to.

It does not appear to be online.

Clearly, intelligent people make stupid mistakes because there is information that is not yet available online.

Adventure magazine is targeted to the adventure travel market. It contains incredible wilderness adventure/survival stories by folks who are willing to put themselves on the line. The article contained numerous examples of capable, experienced, intelligent people who made mistakes because they were focused on their internal map of reality instead of on the real external
reality they faced.

Any programmer can relate to that. The bug is always in the section of code that you aren't reading because you either know it can't be there or because you are too lazy or chicken to enter that particular thicket.

The article contained good advice to stop, look around, question your assumptions, and make a reality-based plan. When you're in a stressful situation, stop and reassess. Reconsider your goal in light of current information. Ask yourself what you're willing to risk to achieve your goal.

But I can't point you to the article. It might be in the February 2006 issue, but Google is inconclusive.

I did however end up at a web site that had photos of "majestic Mount Washington." I did a double-take and thought, "They call that a mountain? Out here, we'd call that a hill."