You Can't Coach That

Things I Learned This Week

As human beings we are constantly learning things. I love the process of learning and I am always trying to understand this process to make me a better learner and a better teacher.

Here are some of the things I have learned this week:

• Leo Chiang taught me that coffee can assist in the process of recovery from exercise. I’ve got the coffee thing happening very well, now for the exercise
• RT taught me that in California in the US it is possible to vote without being a US citizen and that it is illegal to be asked for proof of identity when voting
• Dan taught me that having an extensive blogroll can have a negative impact on your google page rank
• Michael Dell uses Ubuntu Linux on his personal laptop
• I learned about the proposed spending on education in the Federal Budget, I don’t like what I learned

What did you learn this week?

“You can’t coach that”

I try to learn as much as I can all the time, but the thing from last week that stands out th emost is learning the true story behind “Murphy’s Law.”

Wikipedia should have the goods, but the short answer is that it’s not the “what’re you gonna do? / something’s always going to go wrong” sentiment that I always thought it was.  Instead, it’s a positive thing, meaning that if you make the extra effort to design something so that nothing CAN go wrong, you’ll be better off.  Because honestly, if something CAN go wrong, it probably will.  Just make it so that can’t go wrong and all will be good.

This week I learned, after suspecting for some time, that Charlton Heston is one of the worst actors in the history of motion pictures. 

For evidence of this, watch the Naked Jungle.

jer - I had never thought of Murphy’s Law in light either - thanks, another thing I have learned.

Patrick - not a big fan of old “Hes” myself but have to love the chariot chase scene (or have I got my movies mixed up? oh well)