Why we punch below our weight every once in four years

To make an Olympic champion, it takes 8 Olympic finalists. To make Olympic finalists, it takes 80 Olympians. To make Olympians, it takes 202 national champions. To make national champions, it takes thousands of athletes. To make athletes, it takes millions of children around the world to be inspired to choose sport.

 - Lord Sebastian Coe

HW-SW co-design brings people together..!

Prof Michael Hübner of The Ruhr-Universität Bochum gave a lecture on evolution of embedded systems today in TU Delft. Apart from many experiences he recounted of working in the industry, he mentioned about a certain tech-company where the hardware designers and software designers did not talk to each other and were often at loggerheads. After the company forayed into hardware-software co-design, the warring designers had no option but to work together as a team and thus had to talk to each other. These days, says the Professor, they sit at one table and chat during lunch. An achievement he attributes to HW-SW co design working to bring different people closer to each other!

Amdahl’s Law

Everyone knows Amdahl’s law, but quickly forgets it.

—Thomas Puzak, IBM, 2007

Inspirational Quotes conjured up in TU Delft...!

"When the Lord closes a door, somewhere He opens a window."
 - Reverend Mother from Sound of Music

"I say when the Lord closes a door, you open it. If the Lord locks it, you pick that lock. You wouldn't want to look like an idiot trying to climb through the window just because God was in a goofy mood, would you? No, no you would not."

 - Christopher Watson

Gandhi

The greatness of a nation and it's moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated

Things to learn from a dog

I found this on the internet. If a dog was the teacher you would learn things like:

1. When loved ones come home, always run to greet them.
2. Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joyride.
3. Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure Ecstasy.
4. Take naps.
5. Stretch before rising.
6. Run, romp, and play daily.
7. Thrive on attention and let people touch you.
8. Avoid biting when a simple growl will do.
9. On warm days, stop to lie on your back on the grass.
10. On hot days, drink lots of water and lie under a shady tree.
11. When you're happy, dance around and wag your entire body.
12. Delight in the simple joy of a long walk.
13. Be loyal.
14. Never pretend to be something you're not.
15. If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it.
16. When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by, and nuzzle them gently.

Fault Modelling

The extreme difficulty of obtaining solutions by conventional mathematical analysis has led in the past to the use of highly unrealistic models simply because they led to equations that could be solved. In fact, the applied mathematician has been engaged in a continual tussle with his conscience to decide how far he could go in the direction of distorting his model in order to make the equations tractable. The point is well made in the ancient jest about the examination question that began 'An elephant whose mass can be neglected.....'

 - M.V. Wilkes

The Ascent of Money

Money does not make the world go round, it makes staggering quantities of people, goods and services go round the world

The Ascent of Money

I have recently started reading the book "The Ascent of Money" by Niall Ferguson. This book carries a lot of insight into the economic history and evolution of the world to the present day financial markets. Needless to say, it conveys a lot of information about human behaviour regarding money since times ancient. I will be sharing some of the interesting quotes I come across in this book on my blog.
The first one to go is

When human beings first began to keep written records of their activities, they did so not to write history, poetry or philosophy, but to do business and keep accounts
 - Niall Ferguson 

Quote

Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit at home and think about it. Go out and get busy

 - Dale Carnegie