TITLE: Some Wednesday Potluck
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: February 09, 2005 11:10 AM
DESC: Some quotes on beauty and learning and change.
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BODY:
I've been so busy that writing for the blog has taken a
back seat lately.  But I have run across plenty of cool
quotes and links recently, and some are begging to be
shared.

<STRONG>Why Be a Scientist?</STRONG>

Jules Henri Poincare said...

<BLOCKQUOTE>
<EM>The scientist does not study nature because it is
useful.  He studies it because he delights in it, and
he delights in it because it is beautiful.</EM>
</BLOCKQUOTE>

... as quoted by Arthur Evans and Charles Bellamy
in their book <EM>An Inordinate Fondness for Beetles</EM>.

<STRONG>How to Get Better</STRONG>

When asked what advice he would give young musicians,
<A HREF="http://www.jambase.com/headsup.asp?storyID=5933&pageNum=3">
   Pat Metheny said</A>:

<BLOCKQUOTE>
<EM>I have one kind of stock response that I use, which
I feel is really good.  And it's "always be the worst guy
in every band you're in."  If you're the best guy there,
you need to be in a different band. And I think that works
for almost everything that's out there as well.</EM>
</BLOCKQUOTE>

I remember when I first learned this lesson as a high
school chessplayer.  Hang out with the best players
you can find, and learn from them.

(I ran across this at Chris Morris's
<A HREF="http://www.clabs.org//blogki/blogki.cgi?page=/FrontPage">
   cLabs wiki</A>,
which has some interesting stuff on software development.
I'll have to read more!)

<STRONG>All Change is Stressful</STRONG>

Perryn Fowler
<A HREF="http://jroller.com/page/perryn/20050206#all_change_is_stressful_even">
   reminds us</A>:

<BLOCKQUOTE>
<EM>All change is stressful - even if we know it's good change. ...

Those of us who attempt to act as agents of change, whether
within other organisations or within our own, could do well
to remember it.</EM>
</BLOCKQUOTE>

Perryn writes in the context of introducing agile software
methods into organizations, but every educator should keep
this in mind, too.  We are also
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2005-02.html#e2005-02-04T09_47_02.htm">
   agents of change</A>.
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