Lessons to be learned

Big Sofo
Big Sofo

The two last games for Greece in the FIBA World Championship 2006 have taught two lessons for everybody who is part of (or manages1) a team (any kind of team):

  1. Greece vs USA (101 – 95). It is almost undeniable that on a one-on-one comparison Team USA’s players are better players2 than the Greeks. But does the sum of them make a better team than the sum of the Greeks? Nope! Hello Mr. LeBron James3! When your team is behind and there is no time to cover the 6 points, you do not go for a highlight dunk. You search for a free player to shoot a three pointer. The Greeks did it with the Aussies. You elected to dunk, the Greek fans thank you double times for that (a fine dunk, and us winning easier) but is this team play?
  2. Greece vs Spain (47 – 70). Just because a team has a high visibility member, that does not mean that the rest of the team exists only to pass the ball at him. Indeed in the Eurobasket 2005 final the Greek Dream played against Nowitzki (not the Germans) and maybe they thought that this was the case with Spain also. Alas, the final game proved that Spain was not the team of Gasol, but a very good team even with him on the bench. You must never underestimate an oppononent no matter how weak they may seem, for it may not be the case.

[1] There are managers that consider themselves members of the team, and there are others who do not. Shame on the later.
[2] With maybe the exception of Hinrich
[3] You cannot be the heir of Michael Jordan. You can be either better or worse. You decide.

Σας ευχαριστούμε

Σας ευχαριστούμε κι ας μη βγήκαμε στους δρόμους τόσοι όσοι αν κερδίζατε.

Σας ευχαριστούμε κι ας μη σας περιμένουν στο αεροδρόμιο όσοι τον Ζαγοράκη1.

Σας ευχαριστούμε κι ας μην σπεύδουν τόσοι πολιτικοί δίπλα σας (όσοι εάν κερδίζατε) για να φωτογραφηθούν μαζί σας και να μιλήσουν (περισσότερο από εσάς) για το έργο σας.

Τουλάχιστον γλιτώσατε διαλέξεις περί ανίκητου ελληνικού πνεύματος, ειδικής έλικας στο DNA κ.λπ.

Μόνο μη ξαναχάσετε με κατεβασμένα χέρια.

[1] Το 1989 ο Φασούλας είχε πει πως είναι σίγουρος πως αν αντί να έχαναν στον τελικό, κέρδιζαν το χάλκινο μετάλειο, θα τους περίμενε περισσότερος κόσμος και με αίσθημα μεγαλύτερης επιτυχίας (από ότι το αργυρό, που έρχεται με ήττα). Συμφωνώ.

Security Engineering – The Book

Security Engineering (A Guide to Building Dependable Distributed Systems) by Ross Anderson. Available for download:

“[…] This book grew out of the security engineering courses I teach at Cambridge University, but I have rewritten my notes to make them self-contained and added at least as much material again. It should be useful to the established professional security manager or consultant as a first-line reference; to the computer science professor doing research in cryptology; to the working police detective trying to figure out the latest computer scam; and to policy wonks struggling with the conflicts involved in regulating cryptography and anonymity. Above all, it is aimed at Dilbert. My main audience is the working programmer or engineer who is trying to design real systems that will keep on working despite the best efforts of customers, managers, and everybody else. […]”

Το παιχνίδι της σιωπής

Χτες επισκεφτήκαμε το βαφτιστήρι μας. Πολλή φασαρία! Θυμήθηκα λοιπόν το trick που μου έχει πει μια φίλη νηπιαγωγός:

Γ: Κ. Θα παίξουμε το παιχνίδι της σιωπής. Χάνει όποιος μιλήσει πρώτος. Ναι;

Κ: Ναι

Γ: Ξεκινάμε

(1 sec … 2 sec … 3sec)

Κ: Έχασα!

re: Ηλίθιες προβλέψεις

Διαβάζοντας τις “Ηλίθιες Προβλέψεις” (1 και 2) του panicroom, θυμήθηκα το τεύχος Δεκεμβρίου του 2005 του IEEE/Computer. Στην τελευταία σελίδα λοιπόν έχει το άρθρο με τίτλο “We are sorry to inform you…”1 το οποίο έχει τις αρνητικές κριτικές που έλαβαν θα μπορούσαν να λάβουν θεμελιώδη papers στην Επιστήμη των Υπολογιστών (και των Τηλεπικοινωνιών):

Είναι κρίμα που το περιεχόμενο το Computer3 δεν είναι διαθέσιμο online με τον ίδιο τρόπο που είναι του Spectrum. Μερικά ενδιαφέροντα σχόλια από τις κριτικές:

“The author mentions computing machines, such as the recent ENIAC. Well, I guess one could connect such machines, but a recent IBM memo stated that a dozen or so machines will be sufficient for all the computing that we’ll ever need in the foreseeable future, so there won’t be a whole lot of connecting going on with only a dozen of ENIACs” (για το paper του Shannon).

“Finally there is the question of the application. Electronic mail on the Arpanet is indeed a nice gizmo, but it is unlikely it will ever be diffused outside academic circles and public laboratories – environments in which the need to maintain confidentiality is scarcely pressing. Laboratories with military contracts will never communicate through the Arpanet! Either normal people or small companies will be able to afford a VAX each, or the market for electronic mail will remain tiny. […] Reject.” (για το paper των RSA).

…and the rest is history.

Update: Το blog του Bertrand Meyer για το ίδιο άρθρο. Έπειτα διαβάστε για το Rejecta Mathematica.

[1] Simone Santini, University of California, San Diego: “We are sorry to inform you…”
[2] PDF document
[3] Μετά από παρατήρηση του Don, το άρθρο μπορεί να το βρει κανείς εδώ.

Ban him from playing basketball ever again

Ban him from playing basketball ever again. It is not the fact that he deliberately hit Nikos Zisis. It is the fact that he is refusing to publicly apologise for his act.

Even Zidane apologized for headbutting Materazzi1. And in his defence he was provoked by the Italian. You can read more about “the way of the thug” by the guys at Mundobasket2006

[1] Zidane apologized to the World, not to Materazzi