Faster, please *

Iran: the invasion preview. [via]

^{* Apologies to Michael Ledeen}

Wikipedia articles that need editing

I've been busy for the last two weeks.

Here are some Wikipedia articles on local topics that you can contribute to:

Tshwane
Magaliesberg
Kempton Park
Centurion
See the article on Gauteng for more links that need attention.

There is also a shortage of information on South African universities.

Mbeki attacks sacred cow

He had some controversial things to say about Winston Churchill. [via]

User interface design II

The end-user experience is something that is often neglected in the rush to produce slick-looking interfaces.

As I said in a previous post, kulula.com has one of the best user interfaces on the web. Gmail and FNB's online banking site also score highly, because they make navigation simple and hide the complexity of their underlying logic. SAA's website has improved since my last post on the topic.

On the other hand, there are many programs and websites that have look slick at first glance, but suffer from awful performance and have ugly, cluttered, headache-inducing interfaces, that, if tested with actual users (as opposed to managers who won't really be using the system), would be rejected.

Durban robots - semi-inane rant

Something I noticed around Durban (the central and Berea areas especially) is that many of the traffic lights are not fully functional- many have burned-out lightbulbs (or LED's?).

In one case, at the intersection of Sydenham Road and (I think) Centenary Road outside the Greyville racecourse, heading towards town, all the green lights were burned out.

If you are a Durbanite, it might be a good idea to find out why the municipality is neglecting the traffic lights.

Two other drivers who I spoke to also commented about the problem with the robots.

Happy new year

My usual holiday haunt, Durban, was hot, humid, stuffy - and a lot of fun.

Happy new year.

Alexander

I watched Alexander, and I don't quite know what to make of it. It's disjointed, weird and long-winded, but oddly compelling.

Alexander sounds like George Bush (or a neocon) when he explains his reasons for invading Asia and bringing civilization to its tribes.

I have to admit that I snickered after hearing the narrator say that "Babylon was a far easier mistress to enter than she was to leave".

Alexander's bisexuality, as depicted in the film, was not particularly disturbing and it was tastefully handled. That sort of thing was probably an accepted part of Greek culture back then. On the other hand, his (possibly incestuous) relationship with his mother, played by Angelina Jolie, was disturbing.

I'd give Alexander 6.5/10 .

Links - 19/12/2004

• Two interesting pieces from Joel on Software
  • The Economics of Software Pricing [via]
  • Commoditize your products' compliment
• LEGO logic gates [via]
• How to avenge a shark attack
• The Bakwena toll road, which could turn Brits into an extension of Gauteng.
• Many users don't care about spyware
• Is the world becoming less dependent on America?

IQ testing and employment

I have written a few IQ tests. I wrote one in standard 4, and I never found out what my results were.

My parents also had me tested when I was 6, by a psychologist. I found the report recently, and it showed that I was far stronger verbally than I was non-verbally.

I also wrote a few free internet tests, which produced absurdly high results, but I took those with a pinch of salt.

Earlier this year, I was interviewed for a position at a software development company. I thought I had the job in the bag (I aced the interviews with the company). I was then sent to a psychologist for assessments. The personality assessments were fine, but I totally screwed up the intelligence tests. I didn't get the job.

Unfortunately, I can't get the results unless I pay the shrink, something I won't do (a bit of a rip-off, and dubious ethically IMHO). I do have a vague idea of which sections of the test I screwed up on -the stuff about completing patterns and sequences (I was tired when I took the test, as I had come back from a holiday the day before, but I doubt that my tiredness accounts fully for my poor performance on the test).

I did a few IQ-type tests for potential employers after that, as well as skills-based assessments and personality tests, and I have resolved that, if I decide to go job hunting again, I will refuse to take anything resembling an IQ test.

I don't mind personality assessments, and tests that measure specific skills, but I fail to see how figuring out what shape comes next in a sequence would make one a better developer (I think the situation is more complex than all that). (See also this.)

I avoided writing about the topic which I was job-hunting, because it might have seemed like a case of sour grapes, but since I now have a great job, I thought I'd raise the topic. (One of the things that may have landed me my job was this blog. It showed I was savvy enough to pull together a website and that I was relatively clued up on the world around me. The blog certainly didn't hurt my chances.)

The validity of Intelligence tests (euphemistically called "learning ability tests" by some companies) is debatable. Especially since such tests, including "culture-fair tests" are often accused of culture bias. Indeed, the inferior performance of some population groups on intelligence tests has provided fodder for a generation of racists., despite other explanations for these differences.

I haven't done much research into the topic, but I think that the validity of intelligence testing for employment purposes, particularly in South Africa, needs to be examined.

"Democratic Centralism"

...doesn't seem to work without a gulag.