Author Archives: Jacques Chester

You are correct: westerners care more about Boston than Baghdad

There’s two reasons why. The first is novelty. Bombings in Boston don’t happen very often. In countries torn by sectarian violence and in which each sect has bottomless supplies of suicide bombers, bombings are common. So as time goes on … Continue reading

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Why the law is slow, impersonal and obsessed with details

About a decade ago, as part of a long period of depression, I took up the study of law. Eventually I gave it away in favour of programming computers. But law can be fascinating in its own right. Software development … Continue reading

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Anatomy of Movement

Anatomy of Movement by Blandine Calais-Germain, is a damn good book. Some time ago I bought, read and reviewed Lon Kilgore’s Anatomy Without a Scalpel. It’s a decent book, helpfully focused on strength trainees, and the chatty text makes it … Continue reading

Posted in Books, Weightlifting | Leave a comment

The Psychology of Computer Programming: Silver Anniversary Edition

I’ve had a Kindle DX for about 3 or 4 years now. In fact I’ve had two, I broke the first one by dropping it from a bench top. And I’ve been very happy with it. But it’s funny that … Continue reading

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Just an FYI about RSVP

Like pretty much everyone my age who isn’t super-attractive, I have an online dating profile. I used to have one at RSVP, for about ten minutes. Then I learned they have a feature where not only can you be blown … Continue reading

Posted in Life, Rants | 1 Comment

“Dear Northern Territorians …”

“… fuck you”. This is the essence of today’s announcement by the Prime Minister that she is going to parachute Nova Peris into the #1 spot on the ALP’s Senate ticket. The electoral calculus means that this will guarantee a … Continue reading

Posted in Politics - national, Politics - Northern Territory, Rants | 3 Comments

The Mystery Continues

I am now fast approaching the one year anniversary of the last time I performed a clean & jerk. For someone who describes himself as an amateur weightlifter, this is an unhappy state of affairs. The first half of the … Continue reading

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On Selling To Consumers

The software industry is a funny thing. For all of our heroic examples (Gates, Jobs, Page, Zuckerberg etc), it is difficult to tell whether we worship them because they are software-y types like us or whether we only do so … Continue reading

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Books I Read on Holidays

My busted shoulder did me a single favour over the Christmas-New Years period. It excused me from being useful at my sister’s new home, where she and my brother-in-law are frantically working to fix the place up before moving in. … Continue reading

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Fancying, part 2.

For a long time I’ve linked from my book reviews to Amazon, giving both affiliate and direct links. I’m still doing it, but now I’m adding nice little visual callouts. To the right you can see an example. The concept … Continue reading

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