Sure It Works in Practice ... and Other Comments

Assorted Commentary - Res ipsa loquitur*

It is always a pleasure to jot down very short passages that explain themselves. The economy of words conveys truth often better than a long discourse. 

“When I was younger, I could remember anything, whether it had happened or not.” --- Mark Twain

Sure it works in practice, but will it work in theory? --- French proverb

When the "pity level" exceeds the "competency" level, a political candidate is doomed. 

The zero-sum game is often primitive thinking, even though it has theoretical value in war games and economics. When your thinking is every gain is someone’s loss, you are zero-sum thinking. This is the hallmark of a closed system. 

One problem with the CIA and similar agencies is that they believe they can control the chaos they create. They fail to understand chaos is inherently unstable.

The most offensive is not their lying - one can always forgive lying - lying is a delightful thing, for it leads to truth - what is offensive is that they lie and worship their own lying. --- Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

The specialist solves the problem at hand.
The generalist identifies what problems should be solved.

* The thing itself speaks.