Rhystic Studies

The rules you explain are less convincing than the ones you don’t.

George Orwell’s 6 Rules for Writing

Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print

Never use a long word where a short one will do

If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out

Never use the passive where you can use the active

Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent

Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous

Folding Ideas on food

Food is a celebration of what it represents.

Goodhart’s Law

When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.

Hanlon’s Razor

Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.

Xanatos Gambit

A Xanatos Gambit is a plan for which all foreseeable outcomes benefit the creator — including ones that superficially appear to be failure. The creator predicts potential attempts to thwart the plan, and arranges the situation such that the creator will benefit in one way or another even if their adversary “succeeds” in “stopping” them.

When faced with a Xanatos Gambit the options are either to accept that the creator will get the upper hand and choose the outcome that is least beneficial to them, or to defeat them by finding a course that they didn’t predict.

The Pragmatic Programmer’s Martin Fowler

You can change your organization or change your organization