Mondegreen
Erik Neu's weblog. Focus on current news and political topics, and general-interest Information Technology topics. Some specific topics of interest: Words & Language, everyday economics, requirements engineering, extreme programming, Minnesota, bicycling, refactoring, traffic planning & analysis, Miles Davis, software useability, weblogs, nature vs. nurture, antibiotics, Social Security, tax policy, school choice, student tracking by ability, twins, short-track speed skating, table tennis, great sports stories, PBS, NPR, web search strategies, mortgage industry, mortgage-backed securities, MBTI, Myers-Briggs, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, RPI, Phi Sigma Kappa, digital video, nurtured heart.
        

Neu's Laws

In arbitrary order.

Neu's Law of Redundant Copies
If you have 5 copies of some vital, utilitarian object (glasses, car keys), you will always be able to lay your hands on one of them, but: 1) You may have to search a few minutes; 2) You will never, at any time, know where more than 3 of them are.

Neu's Law of Intractable Computer Bugs
There is rarely any single problem in computer systems that can not be remediated (fixed or mitigated), if adequate resources are brought to bear. (Somewhat along the lines of Eric Raymond's "all bugs are shallow, given enough eyes".)

Neu’s Law of the Dream House
Once you can finally afford, the big house you have always wanted, your kids are grown and you don't need the space.

Neu’s Law of the Observable
If one person is certain that something happened, and another is certain that it didn't, more than 80% of the time, the person who remembers it happening will be correct. (I know, this is along the lines of "you can't prove a negative", and is hardly original. Still, it is overlooked quite often in disputes.)

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Last update: 3/28/2005; 11:45:34 AM.