Tweets of the month

Good morning! What am I doing today? You guessed it! SOD course discussions ;-) 8:10 AM Jun 29th

Ending the weekend, preparing for a week of (very hard) work 10:17 PM Jun 28th

Preparing to listen to my kid brother's first drums concert. Good luck João! 8:54 PM Jun 26th

Cleared a backlog of small but important tasks. Also updated my blog http://sparrowflights.blogs... 6:40 PM Jun 26th

At home working 3:36 PM Jun 26th

Good morning. Resuming SOD course discussions at Taguspark. 8:04 AM Jun 26th

Inbox 0. Going home. 8:05 PM Jun 25th

Busy day almost over. Still some time for sending emails. 5:47 PM Jun 25th

Good morning! Today I have a break from the SOD discussions, but I will still be very busy. 8:58 AM Jun 25th

At IST Tagus for more SOD course discussions. 10:39 AM Jun 24th

Good morning! Catching up on my email. 9:30 AM Jun 24th

Working hard on the PhD proposal. Chapters 1 and 2 are revised. 10:37 PM Jun 23rd

Finished revising half the PhD manuscript. I did so many changes that I need to print a new copy to finish it. 12:39 AM Jun 23rd

Back to work on the PhD proposal - preparing a new draft to print 5:22 PM Jun 22nd

SOD course student discussions continue... 10:52 AM Jun 22nd

Working on my PhD 4:18 PM Jun 20th

SOD discussions continue, back at Alameda. 10:34 AM Jun 19th

Back to work, listening to Ben-Hur's soundtrack for inspiration 4:38 PM Jun 17th

Not enough concentration left... pausing briefly for 5 minutes... 4:32 PM Jun 17th

Reviewing PhD thesis proposal 2:59 PM Jun 17th

SOD discussions continue in IST Alameda. 8:41 AM Jun 17th

Giant post-its sensation http://twitpic.com/7giod 2:33 PM Jun 16th

Had a great breakfast: home-made bread! 8:57 AM Jun 16th

RT @andrerib photos of Iranian protests http://bit.ly/xwcZY 9:36 PM Jun 15th

First day of SOD discussions is over. 6:33 PM Jun 15th

Morning discussions are finished. Now preparing for the afternoon discussions. 2:11 PM Jun 15th

Labs ready to receive students for SOD project evaluations. First group should arrive at 8:30 8:17 AM Jun 15th

Rested and ready. Two decisive work weeks ahead. 8:33 PM Jun 14th

Happy Portugal Day! Here's a treat for your eyes: http://www.flickr.com/photo... 7:25 PM Jun 10th

Finished updating my blog http://sparrowflights.blogs... 3:20 PM Jun 10th

Feeling better now. Ready to get back to work. I have to make the most of my time before the SOD discussions start next week. 1:47 PM Jun 8th

Feeling a little sick after the end of classes. Probably just tired... 11:04 AM Jun 8th

Euro elections day. Don't forget to vote! Wisely! 11:32 AM Jun 7th

Morning SOD classes are over. Now I'm going out to lunch, hoping to avoid the rain. 12:24 PM Jun 5th

Good morning! I'm at IST Tagus for the final project day. I'll also try to be contactable in Windows Messenger. 8:09 AM Jun 5th

Finished answering all SOD student emails. I'm very tired and I'm going to rest now. Tomorrow is the final day of the project. Good night! 12:16 AM Jun 5th

Answering emails before going to sleep. Tomorrow I'll have to be at IST Tagus at 8 o'clock sharp! 11:30 PM Jun 4th

At home preparing slots for SOD discussions 11:06 PM Jun 4th

At IST Alameda answering SOD student questions. 3:12 PM Jun 4th

Most mini-tasks are done. One of them produced a normal distribution... This statistical fact of life still manages to puzzle me. 9:51 PM Jun 3rd

SOD student questions time are over (but not the questions). Now I have a batch of small tasks to finish. 5:57 PM Jun 3rd

Now at IST Tagus to answer SOD student questions... Like my sister says: "One day at a time..." :-) 10:50 AM Jun 3rd

Good morning! At IST Lisboa for the final SEI project presentations. 8:13 AM Jun 3rd

Back to SEI projects evaluation. 6:06 PM Jun 2nd

Attending SOD meeting 5:17 PM Jun 2nd

Lunch was nice: Portuguese-style sardines. Now I'm evaluating SEI projects. 4:04 PM Jun 2nd

SEI projects presentations are underway. So far mostly good projects. Let's see what the afternoon brings. 10:10 AM Jun 2nd

Our hearts and prayers are with the people on Air France flight and all their families and friends 10:09 PM Jun 1st

Going home with lots of work done and a clean Inbox! 7:09 PM Jun 1st

Back to work after a fantastic weekend! I was fortunate to visit the top of the Chiado Hotel. Highly recommended! 3:07 PM Jun 1st

Hammer and nail

I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer,
to treat everything as if it were a nail.

Abraham Maslow

Idea Factory quote

I just try to keep remembering what my grandma used to say when I was little: "God didn't make no junk."

The Idea Factory, Learning to think at MIT

Social network to help programmers and sysadmins

StackOverflow and ServerFault are two social networks to help programmers and system administrators.





It is a cross-over of forums (questions & answers), twitter (short messages), and delicious (tags).

Work proposal layout

This is an interesting way to present a work plan in a dissertation:
"
Proposed work item
Completed work item
On-going work item

Goal, related publications

Hypothesis - method, expected outcome, intuition
"

--
Credit for this idea goes to Mihai Rotaru's PhD thesis proposal.
And to Joana for bringing my attention to it.

Scientific method explained

Here you can read a short description of the scientific method with a very simple example. It's always nice to contemplate the fundamentals when you're up in the "clouds" of technology.

Theory and Practice

In theory, there's no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is.

Chip Morningstar

Idea Factory quote

There is no reading period at MIT. Technology is cumulative; if you can do the last problem set, you're ready to take the exam.

The Idea Factory, Learning to think at MIT

Hope / Esperança

Hope is a certainty in the future due to a present reality.

Luigi Giussani

/ This post is bilingual: English (U.S.) and Portuguese (Portugal) /

A esperança é uma certeza no futuro em razão de uma realidade presente.

Luigi Giussani

Texto completo.

P.S. - Obrigado pelo endereço, Joana ;-)

Writing tip: avoid contractions

I received a good tip about thesis-quality writing: avoid contractions like "isn't" or "don't" and use the complete "is not" and "do not". It makes the text more formal.

Do you suggest any other English writing tips? Feel free to leave a comment.

Computer Networks

Computer Networks (4th edition) by Andrew S. Tanenbaum



This is my favorite computer networks book. It's very good for learning networks in-depth, layer by layer. Very accessible and easy to read. Recommended for anyone who wants to know more about how the Internet works and not only for computer scientists!

The problem with software niches

When choosing how to target your software product you have to be careful not to position yourself in the way of the big platform vendors. Covering a small feature gap has a very narrow window of opportunity.

A specific example are all the iPhone applications that are rendered obsolete every time Apple updates its software.

Read Joel Spolsky's blog post.

Idea Factory quote

Harvard is the fruit of industry, MIT is industry.

The Idea Factory, Learning to think at MIT

The Legend of the Holy Drinker / A Lenda do Santo Bebedor

The Legend of the Holy Drinker by Joseph Roth

A small tale, with delicate writing, about how small gestures can change the way we look at our lives.

/ This post is bilingual: English (U.S.) and Portuguese (Portugal) /



A Lenda do Santo Bebedor de Joseph Roth

Um pequeno conto, com escrita delicada, sobre a forma como pequenos gestos podem a forma de olhar a vida.

View from Chiado Hotel balcony

Thanks to some dear friends, we had a great opportunity to visit the Chiado Hotel balcony and look at its amazing view over downtown Lisbon.



Now you too can see the complete photo set.

I can't think of a better way to celebrate Portugal Day!

Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas

Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas

Proteus: Do you have a plan?
Sinbad: Uh...how about try not to get killed?

Angels and Demons

Angels and Demons

Cardinal Strauss: Religion is flawed because man is flawed.

(Yet another) conspiracy movie. This time about the Catholic Church.

A technical triumph - it actually looks like the movie was shot in the Vatican - however the story falls prey to the pre-conceived ideas about religion in general and the Catholic Church in particular.

Both Science and Religion are caricatured. Without getting deep into the subject, just let me tell you this: Religion and Science are not opposites. They both serve a purpose in our search for Truth.

Please let me known if you are interested in the subject. I can suggest some very interesting readings. I also have some very good friends contributing to this debate.

Finally, I quote the beautiful poem of Patriarch Athenagoras about the true essence of the Church.

Without the Holy Spirit God is far away.
Christ stays in the past,
The Gospel is simply an organization,
Authority is a matter of propaganda,
The Liturgy is no more than an evolution,
Christian loving a slave mentality.
But in the Holy Spirit
The cosmos is resurrected and grows with the
birth pangs of the kingdom.
The Risen Christ is there,
The Gospel is the power of life,
The Church shows forth the life of the Trinity,
Authority is a liberating science,
Mission is a Pentecost,
The Liturgy is both renewal and anticipation,
Human action is deified.

XIII

XIII



(Yet another) conspiracy movie. This time related to the US Presidency.

Idea Factory quote

Intelligence can be a burden because you can't be fooled.

The Idea Factory, Learning to think at MIT

Meeting notes

Here a GTD-enabled meeting form. Thanks to Joana for another great work tip.

--

Date, time, participants (name and short-name)

Why are we here?

What do we want to achieve?

--

Calendar (new events)

To-do (personal tasks)

Waiting-for (tasks others will be doing)

--

Discussions topics in sequence

Nun'Álvares - Condestável e Santo

"Nun'Álvares - Condestável e Santo" by António dos Reis Rodrigues



Another telling of the great story of Dom Nuno Álvares Pereira. This book focuses on a different aspect of his life in each chapter.

This post is bilingual: English (U.S.) and Portuguese (Portugal) /

Outra forma de contar a grande história de Dom Nuno Álvares Pereira. Este livro foca um aspecto diferente da sua vida por capítulo.