“If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.

“Founded on May 14, 1607, Jamestown is commonly regarded as the first permanent English settlement in what is now the United States, following many earlier failed attempts.

“A vast, multiethnic nation with a messianic view of itself and an often simplistic view of the rest of the world, stretched too thin beyond its borders and facing mounting challenges within them.

“Getting a job is like enrolling in a human domestication program.

“Schedulers are judicious about schedules, Probers perceptive of options. Schedulers tend to believe that one’s work comes before all else. Probers are much more insistent that the work be enjoyable and to the purpose. By committing themselves to a set agenda, Schedulers tend to stop looking for alternatives and options and so may never know what they’re missing. By keeping their options open Probers are reluctant to commit themselves to schedules and so are inclined to miss deadlines and leave tasks unfinished.

Schedulers tend to be neat and orderly. They like their desk at work to be tidy, and their house picked up. Not that they always manage all of these chores, but they are unhappy when their personal space is a mess, and straightening things up is often near the top of their list. Probers, in contrast, have a much greater tolerance for disorder in their physical environment. They seem absorbed in whatever they’re doing or thinking about at the moment, and are somewhat oblivious to the details of housekeeping.

The two styles are complementary in turning in a job well done: Probers to spot opportunities and lay out alternatives, and Schedulers to be timely and press for closure.

“Locus of control theory distinguishes between two types of people - internals, who attribute events to their own control, and externals, who attribute events in their life to external circumstances.

“Those with low N-Ach may choose very easy tasks, in order to minimise risk of failure, or highly difficult tasks, such that a failure would not be embarrassing. Those with high N-Ach tend to choose moderately difficult tasks, feeling that they are challenging, but within reach.

“The English word girl (first documented in 1290) originally designated a child of either gender. A female child was called a gay girl, while a male child was called a knave girl.

“Legacy code is simply code without tests.

“What I learned from trying to study philosophy is that the place to look is in other fields.